Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Prints and Objects

The Lowe Art Museum is proud to present, Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Prints and Objects, an exhibition of more than 130 original numbered editions of prints and objects by Christo and photographic editions by Wolfgang Volz of works by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Varied in content and technique, the collection represents more than 40 years of Christo and Jeanne Claude’s versatile artistic career, and includes works of art that date from as early as 1962 through 2004. The exhibition is being toured in… Show more the United States for this first time in more than 15 years.

Although Christo and Jeanne-Claude have worked primarily with fabric, they have described themselves as environmental artists because they work in both rural and urban environments. Known for large-scale projects in which Christo and Jeanne-Claude have made short-term, reversible interventions in cityscapes and landscapes, their most recent project, The Gates, Central Park, New York City, 1979-2005 drew thousands of visitors to Manhattan’s Central Park during the 16 days of the project’s installation.

All works created to be indoors, from 1958 until today, such as wrapped objects and packages, drawings, collages, scale models and lithographs are works by “Christo.” All works created to be outdoors, and the large-scale indoor temporary installations, are works by “Christo and Jeanne-Claude.”

Many of the pieces in the exhibition relate to Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s large-scale projects—some representing completed projects, and others representing the artists’ conceptions of projects that were never realized. The act of drawing and collage is preparatory one for Christo in anticipation of a project’s execution. Once completed, the large-scale, temporary projects are recorded in photographs, documentary films and books.

The cost of realizing the work is enormous. Christo accepts no sponsorship, commissions or any public funds. He sells everything he has from the early packages and wrapped objects of 1958 from his storage, and any preparatory drawings for projects that are available, in order to cover the expenses of each project.

Noteworthy pieces in the exhibition include preparatory works for and documentation photographs of Surrounded Islands, Project for Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida; lithograph/collages of Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped and Wrapped Opera House, Project for Sydney; photographs of Valley Curtain, Rifle, Colorado and Running Fence, Sonoma and Marin Counties; and sculptural objects such as Wrapped New York Times and Wrapped Payphone.

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