Jeanne-claude Christo Biography
Christo and Jeanne-Claude were born on the same day in 1935 – he in Gabrovo, Bulgaria and she in Casablanca, Morocco. They were visionary artists who pioneered the land art movement, with Christo as the artistic and conceptual mind behind their projects, and Jeanne-Claude as the organizer and practical force who brought his sketches to life. Christo fled the Stalinist regime and moved to France, where he worked as a painter to earn a living. While painting a portrait of Madame Denat de Guillebon, he met her daughter, Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon, who became his life partner. Together they created visionary projects, thinking of ways to cross the world and make their mark with a completely new artistic language.
Their first project together was in Paris in 1962, where they built the Barrel Wall on Rue Visconti, one of the narrowest streets in the city. The barricade of 89 metal barrels was also called the "Iron Curtain" and temporarily changed the character of the street from a dead end to an obstacle that residents had to get around. This simple act was full of meaning and was intended to draw attention to recent events in Germany, where the Berlin Wall had just been erected, radically altering people's lives in a politically tense era. Christo and Jeanne-Claude not only conceptualized and designed their work, but also completely immersed themselves in the reality of the places where their creations would be installed. They negotiated permits, held meetings and initiated discussions with local councils and residents. This approach paved the way for increasingly bold projects, culminating in 1969 with Christo wrapping over two kilometers of Sydney's coastline in 93,000 square meters of anti-erosion fabric, secured by an equally endless rope. Wrapped Coast, One Million Square Feet, was the first full-scale "wrapping" in history, conducted by a team of 15 professional climbers who draped fabric over the rocky coast.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude have continued to realize bold and meaningful projects, large and small. In 1968 they covered the Fountain in Piazza del Mercato and the Fortilizio dei Mulini in Spoleto with plastic and ropes and in 1969 they wrapped the Chicago Museum. They also wrapped the monument to Vittorio Emanuele in Piazza Duomo in Milan and Leonardo da Vinci in front of La Scala in 1970 for the Nouveau Réalisme funeral.
New York was their base and America hosted some of their most famous works, including Valley Curtain in Rifle, Colorado in 1972: a huge orange curtain that created a partition, 380 meters long, in the valley landscape. Christo and Jeanne-Claude's installations were astonishing but ephemeral, and once their exhibition period was over, they were dismantled, piece by piece: the materials were recycled, and the landscape returned to its usual appearance.
Floating Piers on Lake Iseo was held in summer 2016. Christo's walkway extended across the surface of the water, connecting the towns of Sulzano and Monte Isola with the island of San Paolo. The work is no longer a wall that divides but a bridge that connects distant places, allowing visitors to "walk on water", surrounded by the intense light that radiates from the yellow fabric of the walkway.
Jeanne-Claude died after a long illness in 2009. Christo continued to share their artistic vision with the world until his death in May 2020 at his home in New York.
