Christo and Jeanne-Claude were a collaborative artist duo known for their large-scale, environmental installations. The couple were part of France's Nouveau Réalisme movement. They are best remembered for wrapping architectural and landscape elements in fabric, often on an unprecedented scale. These artworks included the 'Wrapped Reichstag' in Berlin, 'The Pont-Neuf Wrapped' in Paris, 'The Gates' in New York's Central Park, the 39 kilometre (24 mile) long 'Running Fence' down the California coast and 'Wrapped Coast' in Australia. These temporary, textile interventions required detailed planning and dedicated execution. The art critic David Bourdon has described these 'wrappings' as a "revelation through concealment".
Christo Vladimirov Javacheff was born on June 13th 1935 in Gabrovo, Bulgaria and Jeanne-Claude Marie Denat was born on the exact same day and year in Casablanca, Morocco. Christo studied at the National Academy of Art in Sofia and Jeanne-Claude graduated with a degree in Latin and philosophy from the University of Tunis. They first met in Paris in October 1958 and subsequently fell in love and created art together.
In his earlier works Christo used smaller found objects like his contemporary Arman. He wrapped furniture or cars and gradually advanced to a larger scale when he began to collaborate with Jeanne-Claude. In 1964 the couple emigrated to the United States where they dressed store fronts in order to help fund their early artistic collaborations. Over the following decades the pair gained a growing international reputation through their impressive monumental projects. Originally working under Christo's name, in 1994 they credited their installations to both 'Christo and Jeanne-Claude'. They flew in separate aeroplanes in case one crashed just so the other could continue their work. After Jeanne-Claude's death in 2009 and until his own death in 2020, Christo continued to plan and execute projects.
The pair's artwork was typically large, visually impressive and often controversial. It frequently took years and sometimes decades of careful preparation including technical solutions, political negotiation, permitting and environmental approval, hearings and public persuasion. The pair refused grants, scholarships, donations or public money instead financing their work via the sale of their artwork. The couple always repeatedly denied that their projects contained any deeper meaning than their immediate aesthetic impact. The purpose of their art, they contended, was simply to create artworks of joy and beauty, to create new ways of seeing familiar landscapes. To his critics Christo replied, "I am an artist, and I have to have courage ... Do you know that I don't have any artworks that exist? They all go away when they're finished. Only the preparatory drawing and collages are left, giving my works an almost legendary character. I think it takes much greater courage to create things to be gone than to create things that will remain".