Said to be the inventor of a new art genre, “space wrapping”, Christo has died at 84 years old this Sunday May 31, 2020 in New York, where he has living for years.
Christo – né Christo Vladimiroff Javacheff – and his wife Jeanne-Claude (Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon, died in 2009) were a couple of contemporary artists known across the world. Together, they have “wrapped” monuments across the planet and this since the 60s.
We can of course think about Wrapped Coast Sydney, 1968-69, Colorado Valley Curtain in 1970-72, the Surrounded Islands of Biscayne Bay, Miami in 1980-83, Central Park Gates in 2005, The London Mastaba in Hyde Park in 2016-2018, without forgetting Paris Pont-Neuf in 1985, and Berlin Reichstag in 1995.
With such works, numbers make us dizzy. 26 million dollars have been required to plant giant umbrellas in California and Japan, 650,000sqm of fabric have been used to wrap islands in Florida. And 5 million people came to admire the German parliament wrapped… Monumental works no one will ever forget and that have been a hit in the contemporary art world.
Insatiable, Christo was planning to return soon. The Bulgarian artist was to come back to Paris with a new wrapped monument. Christo would have unveiled, from September 18 to October 3, 2021 “The Arc de Triomphe, wrapped, Project for Paris”. The event was first planned for September 2020 for the European Heritage Days and the White Night. But because of the health crisis, the installation said to make the Arc de Triomphe disappear under 25,000sqm recyclable polypropylene silver and blue fabric, and 7,000m of red rope has been ultimately postponed to September 2021.
In a message posted on Facebook, the project “is still on track” for September 18 to October 3, 2021.
Moreover, Centre Pompidou was to welcome this past March the “Christo et Jeanne-Claude. Paris!” exhibition. Postponed as well over the Covid-19 crisis, it will ultimately open to the public on July 1, 2020.
C’est avec une vive émotion et une immense tristesse que nous apprenons la disparition de Christo avec qui nous avions passionnément travaillé pour l’exposition « Christo et Jeanne-Claude, Paris ! ». Elle ouvrira le 1er juillet et rendra hommage à son œuvre exceptionnelle. pic.twitter.com/D9zfd3lnWG
— Centre Pompidou (@CentrePompidou) May 31, 2020
Tweet reads: “It’s with a heavy heart and sorrow we learn Christo has passed away, with whom we have worked a lot for the “Christo et Jeanne-Claude, Paris!” exhibition. It will open on July 1 and pay tribute to his exceptional work.”
Since his death has been announced, tributes are shared everywhere. Centre Pompidou president Serge Lasvignes said to Ouest-France, “Christo was a great artist able to give a new depth to our daily life. An Enchantor. He was a wonderful person mixing boldness, determination and deep humanity”.
As for Culture Minister Franck Riester, he tweeted: “Spectacular, Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s work has marked our collective memory. Able to ‘reveal by hiding’ monuments, their creations have accompanied the history or our time. As he was about to carry on a project in Paris, Christo has just left us”.
Spectaculaire, l’art de Christo et de Jeanne-Claude a marqué notre mémoire collective. Capables de « révéler en cachant » les monuments, leurs créations ont accompagné l’histoire de notre temps. Alors qu’il s’apprêtait à conduire un projet à Paris, Christo vient de nous quitter. pic.twitter.com/hg6hi3Lm9c
— Franck Riester (@franckriester) May 31, 2020
