The Gates (b)
View Similar Items
Christo and Jeanne-ClaudeThe Gates (b)2003
2003
About the Item
- Creator:Christo and Jeanne-Claude (1935 - 2020, Bulgarian, Moroccan, American)
- Creation Year:2003
- Dimensions:Height: 27.5 in (69.85 cm)Width: 39.5 in (100.33 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU5546460652
Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Motivated solely by a mission to spread joy and celebrate beauty through their work, Christo and Jeanne-Claude (1935–2020; 1935–2009) created riveting large-scale public art installations that pushed ephemeral art to an entirely unprecedented new level. While the pair created prints, photography and a range of other types of art, they’re best known for their installations — working with a combination of textiles and industrial materials, Christo and Jeanne-Claude created colossal site-specific sculptures and other projects that frequently included wrapping monuments, walkways and even coastlines in reams of fabric in order to draw attention and encourage viewers to experience familiar objects and places in entirely new ways.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude frequently incorporated nature’s forces into their works, creating billowing fence lines, enormous inflatable free-standing structures and colorful floating walkways. Partners in life and art, the pair designed installations that often took years or even decades to realize and lasted for only days or weeks. Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s preparatory works and detailed drawings and collages are today a testament to their intricate ephemeral masterpieces and legacy.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s stories, incredibly, began on the exact same day — on June 13, 1935, Christo Vladimirov Javacheff was born in Gabrovo, Bulgaria, and on the very same day in Casablanca, Morocco, Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon was born. While Jeanne-Claude received a broad education and a baccalauréat in Latin and philosophy, growing up in France, Switzerland, Morocco and Tunisia, Christo studied art from the age of six years old. He went on to study painting, drawing, architecture and sculpture at the National Academy of Art in Sofia before leaving Bulgaria to escape the Hungarian Revolution.
Christo spent time in Prague before a brief stint at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, moving on then to Geneva and ultimately France. He made money by painting portraits for wealthy families. After being hired by Jeanne-Claude’s mother to paint three portraits of her, Christo met his future wife and collaborator. The pair created their first environmental installation, Dockside Packages and Stacked Oil Barrels, in 1961.
Together, Christo and Jeanne-Claude pursued increasingly ambitious projects, proposing to wrap everything from trees in Wrapped Trees, Foundation Beyeler and Berower Park, Riehen, Switzerland, 1997-98 to important public buildings including the Wrapped Reichstag, Berlin, 1971–95. They also created free-standing abstract sculptures such as the 5,600 Cubicmeter Package, billowing curtains such as Valley Curtain, Rifle, Colorado, 1970–72, and proposed installations in locations as far-flung as Dubai and Japan. These projects and others have been linked to the Pop art-adjacent nouveau réalisme movement.
Classically trained in drawing, Christo created preparatory sketches and collages for the projects, selling his artwork to independently fund the monumental temporary installations the pair erected. Meanwhile, Jeanne-Claude advocated for the pair’s artwork, speaking at public forums, sending proposals to municipal governments, and using her unique combination of compelling charm and stoic stubbornness to get their projects approved.
Devoted to their ideals of spreading joy and beauty, the pair accepted no commissions or commercial collaborations — all their installations were funded purely by the sale of their preparatory art. The last of their realized urban works, that 2005 project invited New Yorkers to go for a glorious walk through 7,503 saffron-fabric-draped portals along the pathways of Central Park. More than 4 million people did.
Christo’s wrapped sculptures, which he began making early in his career, as well as his preparatory works, are held in the permanent collections of museums and other institutions including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Centre Pompidou. Jeanne-Claude died in 2009, and Christo continued to realize the pair’s planned projects until his own passing in 2020.
Find original Christo and Jeanne-Claude photography, mixed media works, sculptures and prints on 1stDibs.
- UntitledBy Marc ChagallLocated in New York, NYThis original lithograph in multiple colors on Velin paper was printed by Atelier Mourlot, Paris in 1969. From the unsigned unnumbered original edition measuring 9.5 x 12.25 in. (24....Category
Mid-20th Century Contemporary Prints and Multiples
MaterialsLithograph
- Korin: Superstring Theory, Takashi MurakamiBy Takashi MurakamiLocated in New York, NYCreated by Takashi Murakami in 2015, Korin: Superstring Theory is an offset color lithograph with foil and high gloss varnish on smooth wove paper. The artwork is hand-signed by the ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Prints and Multiples
MaterialsLithograph
Price Upon Request - And Then... (Red)By Takashi MurakamiLocated in New York, NYThis offset lithograph in colors with cold stamping was created in 2013. Signed by the artist and numbered from the edition of 300 measuring 20 x 20 inches (50 x 50 cm.). Available f...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Prints and Multiples
MaterialsLithograph
Price Upon Request - Flower Ball (3D) Autumn, Takashi MurakamiBy Takashi MurakamiLocated in New York, NYCreated in 2013, Takashi Murakami's Flower Ball (3D) Autumn, is a color lithograph, the artwork hand-signed in silver ink and numbered measuring 28 in. (71 cm), diameter, unframed, f...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Prints and Multiples
MaterialsLithograph
Price Upon Request - Wrapped Fountain, BarcelonaBy Christo and Jeanne-ClaudeLocated in New York, NYThis lithograph with collage was created in 1979/2009. From the signed and numbered edition of 200 measuring 22 x 28 in. (55.9 x 71.1 cm.). Available for local pick up from Michael L...Category
20th Century Contemporary Landscape Prints
MaterialsLithograph
Price Upon Request - Untitled (r)By (after) Gustav KlimtLocated in New York, NY1964 Lithograph in black ink 23 1/4 x 16 1/2 in. (59 x 42 cm), unframed From the open edition as issued (Published by the Albertina Museum, Vienna, Austria) Available for local pick ...Category
Mid-20th Century Contemporary Prints and Multiples
MaterialsLithograph
- Still LifeBy René GenisLocated in Berlin, MDRene Genis (French 1922-2004) Still Life. Mainly oranges and browns, fruits and flowers, against a background of browns with a pitcher central. The browns contain a subtle mixture ...Category
Mid-20th Century Contemporary Still-life Prints
MaterialsLithograph
$580 Sale Price20% Off - Wilde VIIBy Melissa MeyerLocated in Brooklyn, NYThis gestural print combines the artist's free hand with washes and linear elements to create an activated field.Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- LegBy Ellen BerkenblitLocated in Brooklyn, NYThis colorful lithograph. combines the signature motif of the leg with bold colors, a stoplight, an umbrella and calico prints to create a vibrant image of city life.Category
2010s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- ScreamerBy Ellen BerkenblitLocated in Brooklyn, NY"Screamer" forms a series along with "Leg" and "Cheetah"Category
2010s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- A-Chromatics IILocated in Brooklyn, NYThis is the second print in the series: "A-Chromatics" by Gabriele Evertz. The series explores the relationships of colors when one change at a time i...Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Untitled 1995By Jacqueline HumphriesLocated in Brooklyn, NYA four-panel lithograph printed in twelve colors, this is the artist's first editioned print.Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph