Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Christo and Jeanne-Claude , commonly Christo , is the name of artist under whom the common work of Christo Javacheff is known (born the June 13rd 1935 with Gabrovo in Bulgaria) and of Jeanne-Claude Denat of Guillebon (also born the June 13rd 1935 with Casablanca with the Morocco)

This couple of contemporary artists ( which packs the geography and the history ) was made famous for its packed up objects. Naturalized American, they live with New York in the district of SoHo.

Biography

Christo Javacheff was born with Gabrovo, in Bulgaria, the June 13rd, 1935. During its studies in the Art schools of Sofia (1953-1956). The father of Christo had a factory of chemicals and his/her mother was general secretary of the Academy of the Art schools of Sofia until 1931. His/her mother had fled Macedonia in 1913. The family of Christo was used much as refuge with reducing artists and friends the bombardments of the cities by the Allies. In the number of the memories of childhood of Christo also the bodies of partisans carried out in the streets and the entry of the Red Army appear in Bulgaria in 1944. The father of Christo was badgered and imprisoned by the new Communist regime for “sabotage”. One can thus say that the childhood of Christo was rather hard and that it surely had an significant impact on the artist. Very early it had contacts with Article  age the 6 years, it made portraits of many women of the village. In 1953, it began its artistic formation with Beautiful arts from Sofia where it studied painting, the sculpture and architecture until 1956. It is charged, by the capacity in place, to arrange the accesses of the train East-Express train to give, with the Western passengers, a laughing image of Bulgaria. However, because of the strong propaganda of the mode, only truths in favor of Communism could reach the diploma, which Christo was not. Indeed, Christo defied the system by painting fabrics going against the ideology (like peasants resting). It thus had some troubles with the Socialist Realism which was the standard and which imposed a Marxist-Leninist treatment of the subjects like style. As much to say that creation was very narrow.

Then it settles with Paris in 1958 and côtoie the group of the new realistic in 1963. Its first works are abstract paintings and packings of objects (bottles, cans, paperboards, tables, etc) or models alive in fabric or plastic.

Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon, is French. It was born with Casablanca with the Morocco the June 13rd, 1935 - Christo and it would have been born the same day per same hour. It passes its baccalaureat of philosophy in 1952 to Tunis.

Husband and woman, they meet in 1958, year which marks the beginning of their mutual artistic collaboration. Christo is rather the artist, and Jeanne-Claude the organizing one: “ the achievements intended outside are signed by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the drawings by Christo ”.

After having emigrated with the the United States in 1964, they start to carry out projects of great scale, speaker in a direct way and transitory on whole buildings, monuments or landscapes.

Their manner of working

They use fabric to create transitory works in “packing” landscapes, monuments, places. They practice the Land art together (they intend to intervene on natural spot, in the landscape and modify it in a provisional or durable way).

“To reveal while hiding”

Christo complete an imposing, monumental and transitory titanic task, it is this which marks also their originality, to take as much time only for one result which will last only one short amount of time. According to Albert Elsen, “no artist of the history spent as much time to travel to present itself like his work. The success of its projects near the public is due for a considerable share to its facility of contact and its natural gifts of pedagog. He was the first creator studied itself the impact as well human as environmental of projects. The majority of the artists think that the education of the public takes too much time to the detriment of their work. For Christo, verbal interactivity the” with the public forms integral part of its creativity”. Always according to him, “its art is the result of a reflection and an intuition esthetic imposed on an natural environment and built”. For some, the work of Christo can be understood only when one finds oneself vis-a-vis work and that one realizes of his impact. For Christo, their work is made to impress the public and to give new visions as well as a cry of freedom. When a monument is packed, it recovers very an other form, very an other identity, very an other prestige: it any more is not recognized. Christo seek a popular vision, a popularity of their Article Indeed, Christo drew the attention of the public much whatever it is.

It is true that at the beginning, Christo are criticized much, moreover by other artists and by the media, affirming that their work is not Article Cependant, with the fur of time, the media were the powerful ones combined of Christo. For much, Christo has a promotional talent of communication, “the presentation of a project by Christo, a discussion with Christo are also artistic creations”. Christo is before a whole engineer and a contractor, carrying out increasingly insane projects and more and more techniques whereas it does not have any formation in civil engineering. The work of Christo it is also art to work in team with great ways. All the organization and the logistics as of its works form integral part of its Article Aussi do not forget all the steps implemented to be able to carry out each project, representative of the years of investigations and the hundreds of desisted and abandonments. As Marina Vaisey said it, “its method is inseparable from its art”.

Moreover, the work of Christo is transitory what poses the problem of the memory because only the media and the spectators can immortaliser creation, however, it is not durable and thus with difficulty eternal. However for Christo “the urgency to be considering is all the more large as tomorrow all will have disappeared… Nobody cannot buy these works, nobody cannot have them, nobody cannot them market, anybody cannot sell tickets to see them… Our work speaks about freedom”. The art of Christo is the creation of splendid temporary objects of large scales designed for specific external sites. He thinks that people must have the possibility of living intense and memorable artistic experiments apart from the museums.

The art of Christo does not illustrate a message but a majestic way of being sold via the media. On the esthetic level, Christo believe in the seduction of a creation without significance which goes beyond the object itself, implies an indifference with the designs which allot to art a role (social, political, economic, environmental, moral or philosophical) which would go beyond itself. In other words, if Christo are satisfied of a work of art which “is” rather than which “means”, aren't it placed at the same time in the camp of the partisans of art for art? If one can find at Christo some convictions resulting from the theory of art for art, it is quite as important to note as their form of sensitivity of the company does not exclude nonthe experts but on the contrary always insists on the pleasure which the man in the street will be able to feel.

Art today plays of information, propaganda, publicity, packing and the presentation, which represents the work of Christo exactly. Indeed, for Marina Vaizey “it applied the methods of democratic capitalism to the manufacture of art”. What can summarize the work of Christo it is: to reveal while hiding. Indeed, its work is well of art because its installations and its creations have of another goal to only make beautiful. Works of Christo are before any esthetics and beautiful to look at. They do not have any function and any message to be passed, however it is art as well as the technique (techné). The work of Christo is beautiful by the complexity of its simplicity.

Principal achievements

In August 1961, it was the month of the construction of the Berlin Wall. Stateless person without passport and itself taken refuge of a communist country, Christo was very revolted by this East-German decision. He wanted to thus create the wall of barrels of petrol in Paris in the street Visconti but the town hall refused in spite of the detailed description of the project. Therefore, on June 8th 1962, they blocked the street Visconti and carried out their wall. And as one could expect it, they were taken along to the police station but without continuation. They wished years later to carry it out with New York by closing the 53ème street with 441 barrels but it was still refused by the municipal authorities. One can say that with this work, even if the passers by did not include/understand all the message of work, Christo succeeded in reducing art in the street, while making use of a street, barrels of petrol and even of the presence of the passers by. This innovation in art and insistence on the temporary character were always fundamental in the artistic approach of Christo.

This project started into 1970 was finally carried out on August 10th, 1972 with a group of 35 workmen and 64 temporary of which many students in art, schoolboys. It was a curtain of 13.000 square meters orange woven nylon. A 351 m broad curtain and of 111 m in height. The cables which maintained it in place had a range of 417 m, weighed 50 T and were fixed at 800 T of concrete foundations: a gigantic work! For 28 months of preparation! However, the curtain did not remain a long time places from there because the winds blew too extremely with ralales of 100 kilometers per hour on this large sail. That it is quite simply enough to imagine the noise which makes the wind in curtain. Christo wishes that its work be temporary because for him that gives more energy to the project and intensifies our reactions, however, as soon as Christo carried out a project some share its name remains forever in the memories by carried out gigantic work and the social dimension of its works.

  • Running Fence in California.

the " Barrier which court" evoking the wall of China draws up the very same day death of Mao .

September 10th, 1976, in the north of San Francisco, in the counties of Sonoma and Sailor, Christo make curve on nearly 40 km a ribbon of white Nylon fabric of 200  000 square meters. This project makes think of the great wall of China and it was a chance which the very same day where the project was carried out marks the day of dead of Mao Tsé-Toung what involuntarily increased the impact of work. Work makes 5,5 m in height and 39,5 km length. This wall remained in place 14 days and no trace of the project remained on the ground as for the other sculptures of Christo. Christo print their own direction of the beauty of the landscape. This artificial barrier connecting the ground to the sea and the sky is like a metaphor of the arbitrary character of the political and geopolitical borders.

  • Surrounded Islands (1980 - 1983) - the islands of the Baie of Biscayne to Miami are encircled of a pink polypropylene belt fuchsia for two weeks in May 1983.

It is for certain the most spectacular work of Christo. This gigantic project in symbiosis with its environment is of an astonishing beauty. Here Christo undertook to border of fabric 11 artificial small islands which are used especially as discharges with refuse (40 tons of waste). The preparations were long and required like always multiple drawings, joinings and photographs as well as the development of a file of presentation and the meeting holding many with the local authorities. As from April 1981, a team of lawyers, naval engineers, a contractor, a specialist in marine biology, an ornithologist and an expert in mammals are reflected with the work of tears off foot. The installation of this pink fabric made it possible to change the landscape radically and to even improve it. This pink color is not chosen by accident it evokes the ice cream and can even be the color representative of the area for some: color of the leisure, the sun, unconcern; color of the artifice, and the euphoria but sets up also a mark of humor and affection. The 11 islands were surrounded by 60 hectares of fabrics, the fabric had been cut out according to 79 owners to follow contours of the islands and this work was carried out in a factory rented for the occasion from Nov. 1982 in April 1983. This work had a strong impact in the world of art but also at the tourists who pressed themselves in Miami to see the pink islands. Indeed, no other artist drew the attention of the public as much, even if it is not always positive.

  • Packing of the New Bridge (from September 22nd to October 7th 1985) - the New Bridge of Paris the, oldest of the bridges of the French capital, is packed in a polyester ocher-yellow.

This bridge is oldest of Paris and no other bridge is in charge of historical and cultural importance as much. Many famous artists painted it like Turner, Renoir, Picasso and others. When Christo proposed to pack the bridge a strong controversy settled. For some that would damage it, wound the passers by or even désacraliserait this witness of the past. To obtain the authorizations represented a fierce combat for Christo and Jeanne Claude during more than 10 years. When finally the project was carried out it was a triumphal success. And this bridge could also symbolize its own passage of the communist world to the free world to finish in Paris, its first place of real artistic creation. The project represented 40.876 square meters of polyamide fabric gilded and the fabric was retained by 13.076 m of cord and more than 12 T of steel chains. Packed up, this bridge had lost all its history and its seniority to become a modern architecture and almost aerodynamics thus changing its usual impact.

  • Parasol Bridge - the artists create a bridge symbolic system between the East and the West, on the two sides of the peaceful littoral.

In October 1991, Christo and Jeanne-Claude make plant 1.340 blue parasols with Ibaraki, the Japan and 1.760 yellows in California. They make 6 m in height for 8,66 m in diameter and will remain in the landscapes during 18 days.
  • Packing of the Reichstag (June 23rd at July 7th 1995) - the Reichstag of Berlin is the palate of the German ex-Parliament is packed in a silver plated fabric.
Five million people moved to admire work. One needed 100.000 square meters of Polypropylène, covered by a layer with Aluminum, and 15km of cord. Work began the June 17th 1995 and finished the June 24th. It is into 1971 that Christo outlines its first drawings of the packed Reichstag. But the project relating to this monument in charge of painful memories (burnt at the instigation of the Nazis in 1933) will be slowed down, in particular by the chancellor Helmut Kohl.

  • The Gates (2004 - 2005) was presented during sixteen days of the from February 12th to 28th 2005. It was a course of 37 kilometers through Central Park with New York, punctuated of 7.500 gantries, tops of approximately five meters, placed at 4 meters of interval and tended of a curtain of fabric Vinyle of color orange-saffron.

Financing of the achievements

The artistic adventures of Christo, although gigantic thus expensive, in general are entirely financed by the sale of the preparatory studies. An exposure on the preparatory drawings of “ The Spoil ”, organized April in July 2004 with the Metropolitan Museum off Art of New York attracted the collectors and the public.

The next realization

After “ The Spoil ”, their next realization is entitled “ Above the river Arkansas ” in the Colorado, a whole program. The project consists in suspending a fabric of 10 km above the bed of the river, while following the form of the river. It should be carried out at the summer 2009. Already the biddings go up around their preparatory drawings.

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