Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Vintage Signed SIlver Gelatin Photograph Christo Wrapped Kunsthalle Cugini Photo, 1968

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Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Wrapped Kunsthalle, Bern Switzerland (1968)
Vintage silver gelatin print
signed by Christo lower right
Photographed by Thomas … Read more Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Wrapped Kunsthalle, Bern Switzerland (1968)
Vintage silver gelatin print
signed by Christo lower right
Photographed by Thomas Cugini, Swiss (b. 1938)
10 1/2 x 15 1/4 inches
frame dimensions:11 x 15 1/2 x 1 1/4 inches, original acrylic box frame

The avant-garde artist Christo created some of the most spectacular large-scale artworks of the 20th century. Working with his wife and creative partner, Jeanne-Claude, he wrapped in fabric the Reichstag building in Berlin (1995) and the Pont Neuf bridge in Paris (1985), built a 25-mile fabric fence across Northern California (1975), and strung a huge orange curtain across a Colorado valley (1972). Christo was born in Bulgaria and studied fine arts in Sofia and Vienna before moving to Paris in 1958. There he met Jean-Claude, who became his muse and partner in exotic art. They married in 1962, moved to New York in 1964 and began making the ever-larger "environmental" artworks for which Christo became famous: wrapped fountains, bridges, buildings, and other public spaces. His career (to date) culminated with "The Gates," which placed 7500 vinyl gates, with free-flowing orange nylon fabric panels, across 23 miles of Central Park walkways for 16 days in 2005. Considering himself a pure artist, Christo refused all sponsorship and corporate money and raised the millions needed to execute his artworks by selling sketches, designs, and models of his proposed projects.
Education,Christo: National Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna
Jeanne-Claude: Self–taught Known for Environmental art
Movement: Nouveau réalisme. Like his contemporary Arman, Christo used smaller found objects in his earlier works, wrapping cars or furniture, and gradually advanced to larger scale once he began to collaborate with Jeanne-Claude. Christo Vladimirov Javacheff and Jeanne-Claude are a married couple who created environmental works of art. Christo and Jeanne-Claude were born on the same day, June 13, 1935; Christo in Gabrovo, Bulgaria, and Jeanne-Claude in Morocco. They first met in Paris in October 1958 when Christo painted a portrait of Jeanne-Claude's mother. They then fell in love through creating art work together.
Credit was given to "Christo" only, until 1994, when the outdoor works and large indoor installations were retroactively credited to "Christo and Jeanne-Claude." They flew in separate planes: in case one crashed, the other could continue their work. He was represented by the legendary Leo Castelli Gallery along with Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella, Cy Twombly, Lee Bontecou, Roy Lichtenstein, John Chamberlain, Andy Warhol, James Rosenquist, Donald Judd, Christo, Richard Serra, Ed Ruscha, Claes Oldenburg and many others.
On all their projects since 1972 they worked exclusively with photographer Wolfgang Volz. At least five of their major projects were subjects of documentary films by Albert and David Maysles. Although, Jeanne-Claude and Christo worked as creative equals on all of their art projects, only Christo’s name appeared on the finished products. This was a conscious decision by both Jeanne-Claude and Christo because of the prejudices against female artists in the art world. Jeanne-Claude said, “‘The decision to use only the name Christo was made deliberately when we were young because it was difficult for one artist to be established and we wanted to put all the chances on our side.’” Therefore, Jeanne-Claude took on the role as Christo’s manager in order to advance their success. The pair did not reveal Jeanne-Claude as the second half in the creative process until 1994.


Provenance: Rosa and Aaron Esman estate
Rosa and Aaron Esman assembled an outstanding array of Modern, Post-War, and Contemporary art. The collection they built over the decades, rich in Modernism, Dada, Russian Constructivism, and American Pop Art,
Iconic masterworks of the 1960s by Josef Albers an Rauschenberg, along with an impressive assemblage of modern works on paper, photographs, and prints. Artists such as Sol LeWitt, René Magritte, Jasper Johns, Jackson Pollock, Joan Miró, and many others. Rosa and Aaron Esman assembled an outstanding array of Modern, Post-War, and Contemporary art over the course of their seventy-year marriage. Mrs. Esman was a ground-breaking print publisher who initiated portfolios of fine art prints and editions of 3- dimensional multiples with the iconic artists of the 1960s and 1970s, including Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Donald Judd, Richard Serra, Lee Bontecou, Eva Hesse, Tom Wesselmann, Sol LeWitt, Robert Motherwell, Helen Frankenthaler, and others. In addition, during the 1970s, Rosa Esman joined with art book publisher Harry Abrams to create Abrams/Original Editions, producing portfolios and individual prints by Saul Steinberg, Red Grooms, and others. See less