Christo + Jeanne Claude: From The Gates to Over the River



(c) WSJ Magazine, April 2011

 

(c) WSJ Magazine, April 2011



Top: The artists at Little Bay in Sydney, 2007; a 1963 wrapped portrait of Jeanne Claude.
(c) WSJ Magazine, April 2011



Top: "The Gates" in New York City's Central Park (1979-2005); Bottom: "Wrapped Coast, One Million Square Feet" (1968-69), Little Bay, Australia.
(c) WSJ Magazine, April 2011

Christo and Jeanne-Claude
The Gates, Central Park,
New York City, 1979-2005
Photo: Wolfgang Volz
©2005 Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Source: http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/tg.shtml



Add caChristo and Jeanne-Claude
The Pont Neuf Wrapped, Paris 1975-85
Photo: Wolfgang Volz
©1985 Christoption
Source: http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/



Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Running Fence, Sonoma and Marin Counties,
California 1972-76
Photo: Jeanne-Claude
©1976 Christo
Source: http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/

Their life is like a love story, Christo + Jeanne Claude.  She didn't like him at first, was mean to him but intrigued by him.  He was a poor Bulgarian painter living in Paris, speaking little French.  To get by, Christo would make his living as a portraiture.

They met at the age of 23 when Christo was commissioned to create a portrait of Jeanne Claude's mother.  Jeanne Claude was a headstrong and outspoken whose father was an influential general.  Claude became infatuated with Jeanne Claude's liveliness and how she loved to laugh.  Their first date, he bought tickets to an avant-garde theatre playing Ionesco.  During the show, she laughed so hard and loud that the actors stopped playing their parts and started laughing with her.  And that became the starting point for the rest of their lives.  Working together, side-by-side in New York on Christo's massive scale once in a life time masterpieces.

Jeanne Claude's unfortunate passing came in 2009.  Before the the final decision of their long time project called "Over the River."  It is one of their most ambitious plan to cover about 6 miles of the Arkansas River in Colorado.  After they wrapped Paris' Pont-Neuf in 1985 and was fascinated by the illuminating fabric over the Seine, the two began to conceive an idea to cover a river.  It has been a long battle to get an approval from the Bureau of Land Management and the project so far has cost the artist $8 million in just preparation.  This month, the Record Decision of the project will be issued.

You can read the full article in the Wall Street Journal Magazine April 2011 edition. 
To learn more about the artist including "Over the River," visit http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/