Christo & Jeanne-Claude

jtk · Aug 18, 2022

Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Official website of artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Features photographs and texts about all major projects, early works, and works in progress. Includes biographical and bibliographical information as well as past, current, and upcoming exhibitions.

christojeanneclaude.net

Christo and Jeanne Claude, born on the same day, worked together in projects.

They're both passed now but I think it's worthwhile for photographers to know what this couple did in our recent lifetimes.

I find that a gripping story. I imagined that I did know something about their work twenty years ago, but I forgot it. Kept me awake last night.

What is/was a "Big Air Package" ? What was "Running Fence"? Most of the images were analog or video or simply memories.

How can a work of art be miles long or a thousand feet high, perhaps pretending to be eternal/archival yet existing only briefly?

Can photographers be as significant as their subjects?

Christo, Fearless Maker of Massive Public Artworks, Has Died at 84

With his partner Jeanne-Claude, he shifted the way public art was made and understood.

www.artnews.com

Pieter12 · Aug 18, 2022

Interestingly, Christo and Jeanne-Claude could obviously not sell their art as it was all temporary installations. I'm sure they got grants, etc. to fund the projects as they were being conceived and constructed, but much or their income came from selling books, posters with photographs of the installations and the sketches of the work.

CMoore · Aug 18, 2022

Did not some of their "art" kill a woman in California...............and play a role of the death of a construction worker in Japan.?

Pieter12 · Aug 18, 2022

CMoore said:
Did not some of their "art" kill a woman in California...............and play a role of the death of a construction worker in Japan.?

Indeed, 2 people died. A woman was crushed by one of the umbrellas in California, and a construction worker was electrocuted taking down another umbrella in Japan.

warden · Aug 18, 2022

CMoore said:
Did not some of their "art" kill a woman in California...............and play a role of the death of a construction worker in Japan.?

No need for the quotes around the word art. It’s art.

People sometimes die interacting with large art installations or when something goes wrong. A quick Google search will yield many more examples, and from name-brand artists. It happens.

jtk · Aug 19, 2022

My point, perhaps not hard to infer, is that some artists embrace comfortable ideas and some don't.

warden · Aug 19, 2022

Sirius Glass said:
Wrapping things in paper or cloth is not art, it is a higher form of littering.

For those interested, there are excellent film photographs of the various projects and candids on their website in JTK's original post. Great stuff.

Alan Edward Klein · Aug 19, 2022

I walked his The Gates display in NYC Central Park in 2005 which I thought was very interesting.
They had these "gates" throughout the walks in the park, thousands of them.
Here's one of the shots I took.

Christo's "The Gates" by Alan Klein, on Flickr

MattKing · Aug 19, 2022

Sirius Glass said:
Wrapping things in paper or cloth is not art, it is a higher form of littering.

I consider many of their installations fantastic and wonderful.
As in imbued with fantasy and wonder.
The materials used did their job, in the impermanent way they were intended to.

jtk · Aug 19, 2022

MattKing said:
I consider many of their installations fantastic and wonderful.
As in imbued with fantasy and wonder.
The materials used did their job, in the impermanent way they were intended to.

Well I guess that settles it, eh? Someone "considers it" something.

Alan Edward Klein said:
I walked his The Gates display in NYC Central Park in 2005 which I thought was very interesting.
They had these "gates" throughout the walks in the park, thousands of them.
Here's one of the shots I took.

Christo's "The Gates" by Alan Klein, on Flickr

Nice photo! I love Central Park as much as I love Golden Gate park.

VinceInMT · Aug 19, 2022

Sirius Glass said:
Wrapping things in paper or cloth is not art, it is a higher form of littering.

For you. For others, and much of the art world, it is clearly art.

MattKing · Aug 19, 2022

jtk said:
Well I guess that settles it, eh? Someone "considers it" something.

I posted that in response to a post that described their reaction to the work as essentially “litter” - I’m happy to have others contribute whatever else that is appropriate.

btaylor · Aug 20, 2022

I have long admired their work, and have been fortunate to experience both the Umbrella and Running Fence installations in person. Amazing stuff! True artists in the strongest sense of the word- to enable the audience to see the world in a new and different way, remarkable.
As a side note, these installations took many years of planning and working through the many bureaucracies and impacted parties before any of the installation could begin, all part of the art work.

jtk · Aug 20, 2022

warden said:
For those interested, there are excellent film photographs of the various projects and candids on their website in JTK's original post. Great stuff.

Yes, and videos.. seen on Photrio, a purely non-analogue medium. Hardly anybody had digital cameras during the intentionally short term Christo-Jeanne-Claude projects and they paid for their staff photographer. Cleanup paid for by the projects themselves, unlike Sierra Club events (I've been a member since 64).

jtk · Aug 20, 2022

Pieter12 said:
Interestingly, Christo and Jeanne-Claude could obviously not sell their art as it was all temporary installations. I'm sure they got grants, etc. to fund the projects as they were being conceived and constructed, but much or their income came from selling books, posters with photographs of the installations and the sketches of the work.

Most of Saint Ansel's income came from books (elitist versions...not cheap like those of the Christos)

Christo couple's projects constituted the art, the "installations" were only temporary...almost incidental. A longtime California friend became part of the art by granting Corps of Engineers permits for Running Fence.

Of course they didn't peddle books mainly for bookshelves (think Sierra Club) and did relish color. Christo himself was an architectural illustrator, the cheap books describe that part of the work as pencil, oil crayons and photographs (which were B&W). The books were cheap because the couple despised elitist objects (bought mine used for $9.00 ea). I toted hundreds of pounds of dry chemistry for Ansel, so he autographed his most ignored, artificial light, which I'd stolen.

Arthurwg · Aug 20, 2022

I especially love the drawings. Lately I've discovered the early work, small, wrapped up objects. Very charming.

warden · Aug 20, 2022

Arthurwg said:
I especially love the drawings. ...

He was a hell of a draftsman, I agree.

jtk · Aug 20, 2022

warden said:
He was a hell of a draftsman, I agree.

a] are you aware that the work was always team effort, the couple and hundreds of others?
b) are you aware that drafting and architectural rendering are, like creation and depiction of visions, different professions?
c) FWIW I've seen hundreds of presentations by architectural students....done approximately the way the Christos did theirs, but their ideas vary widely. All are artists rather than draftsmen. Some create more than do others.

jtk · Aug 20, 2022

'Christo, who often remained stoic in the face of mounting criticism, listened carefully to his detractors in Miami—but chose to wave them off, telling ARTnews in 1984, “the work develops its own dimension. It is always bigger than my imagination alone.” He called the project “my Water Lilies,” referring to Claude Monet’s Impressionist paintings, and said it was a “poetical gesture.” After the polypropylene fabric wrapping was disassembled and Biscayne Bay was returned to its prior state, Christo said the work was “still in the mind of the people.”

gone · Aug 20, 2022

Christo made his money selling the drawings to his installations. Once he became a name artist, the old money art angels stepped in and made sure he never needed to eat peanut butter sandwiches.

Mostly, he's an artist that never impressed me. His ideas and designs were great, but once the works were actually up I rarely saw the point of most of them. It seemed that Claes Oldenberg, Jim Dine and others made better statements. Seeing that giant clothespin of Oldenberg's in person was a memorable moment for me.

At least Christo has integrity, there will be no giant balloon dogs that were made by 3rd parties in his portfolio.

warden · Aug 20, 2022

momus said:
Christo made his money selling the drawings to his installations. Once he became a name artist, the old money art angels stepped in and made sure he never needed to eat peanut butter sandwiches.

Mostly, he's an artist that never impressed me. His ideas and designs were great, but once the works were actually up I rarely saw the point of most of them. It seemed that Claes Oldenberg, Jim Dine and others made better statements. Seeing that giant clothespin of Oldenberg's in person was a memorable moment for me.

At least Christo has integrity, there will be no giant balloon dogs that were made by 3rd parties in his portfolio.

It's funny that you mention Jim Dine, because I was about to suggest him as a reference for what I meant about "draftsmanship" to jtk. His drawings of tools and many other things are splendid.

awty · Aug 20, 2022

If only they used their creative abilities for good.

Arthurwg · Aug 21, 2022

awty said:
If only they used their creative abilities for good.

Art is a "good."

jtk said:
a] are you aware that the work was always team effort, the couple and hundreds of others?

Not sure "always" is correct. I don't think she was part of the early

jtk said:
b) are you aware that drafting and architectural rendering are, like creation and depiction of visions, different professions?

"Drafting" often used as a general term for "drawing."

Frank53 · Aug 21, 2022

I’ve always considered it a bit like The New Clothes of the Emperor, but there’s too much fabric in it for that, I guess

jtk · Aug 21, 2022

awty said:
If only they used their creative abilities for good.

You don't think tremendous participation in production of arworks is "good" ? Seems good to me. Which artists do more "good" in your estimation?

Christo & Jeanne-Claude

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