Catherine Issert (France), Christo, Wrapped Reichstag, Card, 1979. Size: 5.5 x 4.25 Inches. Many of Christo and Jean-Claude’s projects would take decades to realize. This announcement card for a Christo exhibition features an early version of the Reichstag wrapping project in a 1978 drawing. – Card Available
Last week’s wrapping in cloth of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, a posthumous work by the artists Christo (1935-2020) and his wife and creative partner Jean-Claude (1935 – 2009), demonstrated again the powerful appeal that their projects have as both art and public event. Why would an artist wrap such a huge structure? It is a creative act that conjures mystery, arouses curiosity and stimulates questions and reflection.
Over the years Christo and Jean-Claude’s wrappings have frequently been at a colossal scale and involved prominent public structures. These projects are by necessity short term (usually two weeks) but they live on through copious documentation created by the artists themselves. A selection of this documentation, including signed posters, is on view at Gallery 98’s special section devoted to Christo and Jean-Claude.
Wrapping the Reichstag, 1995
Christo & Jean-Claude, Wrapped Reichstag, SIGNED poster, c. 1995. Photograph by Wolfgang Volz. Size: 16 x 12 Inches – Signed Poster Available
One of Christo and Jean-Claude’s most compelling projects was their 1995 wrapping of the century-old Reichstag in Berlin. Tens-of-thousands flocked to see one of Germany’s most famous buildings completely shrouded in silver cloth. It was a visual spectacle but it also had political implications that called to attention the reunification of Germany after thirty years of separation into East and West. With Germany united again, Berlin returned as the country’s capital, and the vacant Reichstag was renovated to again serve as the nation’s parliament building. The photo by Wolfgang Volz on this offset poster signed by Christo and Jean-Claude captures the grandeur of the event.
Wrapping New York’s Museum of Modern Art. A Non-Event, 1968
MoMA, Christo, Christo Wraps the Museum, Exhibition Booklet with Text by William S. Rubin and a Six Page Accordion Insert featuring Ten Images, 1968. Size: 7.25 x 8.25 Inches – Booklet Available
The Museum of Modern Art Packed (View from 53rd Street). Photomontage, 1967. This section of the insert shows Christo’s proposal to block 53rd street and the museum’s back entrance with dozens of oil containers.
While some of Christo and Jean-Claude’s projects had a positive public purpose others seem to indulge in the joy of being shocking and disruptive. That was certainly the case with their abortive proposal to wrap New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1968. The curatorial department supported Christo but the project was killed when the museum’s insurance company threatened to cancel its policy. Instead of the thwarted wrapping (while the museum remained open) there was an exhibition with a brochure containing drawings of a wrapped MoMA and other proposed interventions. But, what are we to make of Christo’s drawing of dozens of giant oil drums blocking the museum’s back entrance?
MoMA, Christo, Christo Wraps The Museum, SIGNED Poster, 1968. Size: 33.5 x 22.5 Inches. – Signed Poster Available
See more Chirsto and Jean-Claude items in this special Gallery 98 section.
