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KETTLER VERLAG
Christo & Jeanne-Claude: Early Works 1958-64
Text by Matthias Koddenberg.
The monumental but temporary interventions of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, now beloved by millions across the world, began in a very different era, in late-1950s Paris, amid the antics of Yves Klein and the assemblage art of the Nouveaux Réalistes. Composed in close co-operation with Christo and Jeanne-Claude, just prior to Jeanne-Claude's death in November 2009, Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Early Works 1958-64, is the first publication in almost 40 years to deal in depth with the early work of the duo. Previously unpublished works and photographs from the artists' archives narrate the road from Christo's arrival in Paris (from his native Bulgaria) in 1958 to his and Jeanne-Claude's relocation to New York in 1964. Along with an introductory text by Matthias Koddenberg, art historian and longstanding friend of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the book contains an extensive interview with the artists and a detailed chronology for the years 1935 to 1964.
"Characterized by immense plasticity and density, the paint is no longer a picture-building element in these works as it was in the abstract compositions, its materiality makes it and inherent component of the picture and almost gives the works the character of objects. They thus exemplify Christo's increasing abandonment of the two-dimensional surface of a panel and his increasing interest in the three-dimensional object."
Matthias Koddenberg, excerpted from his text to Christo & Jeanne-Claude: Early Works 1958-64, from which this image is reproduced.
"Christo's early works, together with the preparatory drawings and collages, the photos, films and reminiscences that have been engraved into the cultural memory of mankind, are the only witnesses to their art. Leonardo da Vinci saw painting as superior to music because it did not vanish like the latter as soon as it was produced, but it was Christo and Jeanne-Claude who introduced the aspect of transience as a new aesthetic dimension into the visual arts. It is that contribution that will immortalize the artists who turned transience into an artistic principle."
FORMAT: Pbk, 6.5 x 9.25 in. / 192 pgs / 57 color / 50 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $35.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $40 ISBN: 9783941100794 PUBLISHER: Kettler Verlag AVAILABLE: 6/30/2010 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of print AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Published by Kettler Verlag. Text by Matthias Koddenberg.
The monumental but temporary interventions of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, now beloved by millions across the world, began in a very different era, in late-1950s Paris, amid the antics of Yves Klein and the assemblage art of the Nouveaux Réalistes. Composed in close co-operation with Christo and Jeanne-Claude, just prior to Jeanne-Claude's death in November 2009, Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Early Works 1958-64, is the first publication in almost 40 years to deal in depth with the early work of the duo. Previously unpublished works and photographs from the artists' archives narrate the road from Christo's arrival in Paris (from his native Bulgaria) in 1958 to his and Jeanne-Claude's relocation to New York in 1964. Along with an introductory text by Matthias Koddenberg, art historian and longstanding friend of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the book contains an extensive interview with the artists and a detailed chronology for the years 1935 to 1964.
