Christo & Jeanne Claude

"We call Christo and Jeanne-Claude's projects art because we have no other choice. To call them madness would be one alternative, but madness is far less innovative. For half a century now, Christo and Jeanne-Claude have been upsetting our viewing habits for brief moments and thus sharpening our eye for landscapes and buildings whose existence we have long taken for granted. The congregation of thousands of people from various nations, religions and social strata at one place for the sole purpose of celebrating art, celebrating irrationality, leaves its imprint on anyone who has ever had the chance to be there when one of these large-scale ephemeral projects was being carried out."
Matthias Koddenberg, excerpted from his foreword to Christo & Jeanne-Claude: Early Works 1958-64.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude were both born in 1935, Christo as Christo Vladimirov Javacheff in Bulgaria and Jeanne-Claude as Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon in Casablanca to a French military family. They met in Paris in 1958, had a baby boy in 1960, and collaborated until Jeanne-Claude's death in 2009. Their monumental projects include Wrapped Reichstag, Berlin, 1971-95, The Umbrellas, Japan-U.S.A., 1984-91, and The Gates, Project for Central Park, New York City, 1979--completed in 2005.

PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED

CHRISTO & JEANNE-CLAUDE: EARLY WORKS 1958-64, LIMITED EDITION
Introduction by Matthias Koddenberg.
KETTLER VERLAG
ISBN: 9783862060221 | US $550.00
Pub Date: 2/29/2012
Forthcoming

ACTIVE BACKLIST

CHRISTO: THE PARIS SCULPTURES 1961
Foreword by Matthias Koddenberg.
KETTLER
ISBN: 9783862061099 | US $40.00
Pub Date: 4/30/2012
Active | In stock

CHRISTO & JEANNE-CLAUDE: THE MASTABA / OVER THE RIVER
Text by Jonathan Henery. Photographs by Wolfgang Volz.
EDICIONES POLíGRAFA
ISBN: 9788434311930 | US $35.00
Pub Date: 9/30/2010
Active | In stock

CHRISTO & JEANNE-CLAUDE: EARLY WORKS 1958-64
Text by Matthias Koddenberg.
KETTLER VERLAG
ISBN: 9783941100794 | US $35.00
Pub Date: 6/30/2010
Active | Awaiting stock

FIVE FILMS ABOUT CHRISTO AND JEANNE-CLAUDE
Films by The Maysles Brothers. Essay by Charles Taylor. Introduction by Albert Maysles.
PLEXIFILM
ISBN: 9781891024948 | US $59.95
Pub Date: 5/2/2004
Active | In stock

Christo & Jeanne Claude

Christo: The Paris Sculptures 1961

Foreword by Matthias Koddenberg.
Published by Kettler

Decades before he and his late wife Jeanne-Claude were draping the Reichstag in cloth, Christo (born 1935) was creating much more modestly-sized packages in his Paris studio. These early objects, developed in the ferment of Nouveau Réalisme assemblage art alongside artists such as Arman and Jacques Villeglé, have come under scrutiny once more, as this intriguing phase in the history of the European avant garde has been increasingly revisited by art historians. One series of 12 sculptures by Christo from this period, made from oil barrels and metal scrap, was long thought lost to history. In fact the works have survived in photographs, very few of which have ever been published. Now, with the close collaboration of the artist himself, art historian Matthias Koddenberg has retrieved and reproduced these fascinating early works in this beautifully produced volume.

Christo & Jeanne-Claude: The Mastaba / Over the River

Text by Jonathan Henery. Photographs by Wolfgang Volz.
Published by Ediciones Polígrafa

This book compiles documentation for two unrealized projects by the legendary duo of Christo (born 1935) and Jeanne-Claude (1935-2009): "The Mastaba," a project conceived in 1977 for the United Arabic Emirates, and "Over the River," a project recently conceived for the Arkansas River. "Mastaba," Arabic for "bench," is proposed as a sculpture of approximately 410,000 horizontally stacked and variously colored oil barrels. Trees and shrubbery would be planted around the Mastaba as a windbreak against the sand and windstorms; the area adjacent to the walkways approaching the Mastaba would resemble an oasis with flowers and grass. "Over the River" consists of a succession of fabric panels to be suspended above the Arkansas River, for a period of two weeks sometime between mid-July and mid-August of any given year in the future (2013 at the earliest). Both projects are fully illustrated with preparatory drawings and photographs of the proposed locations.

Christo & Jeanne-Claude: Early Works 1958-64

Text by Matthias Koddenberg.
Published by Kettler Verlag

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.

Christo & Jeanne-Claude: Early Works 1958-64, Limited Edition

Introduction by Matthias Koddenberg.
Published by Kettler Verlag

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 Nouveau 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. This special edition of the book is signed and numbered by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, comes housed in a slipcase designed by Christo and contains a signed, numbered print--"Wall of Oil Barrels: The Iron Curtain, Paris, France, 1961-62" (7.3 x 5.5 inches). The edition is limited to 150 copies.

Five Films about Christo And Jeanne-Claude

Films by the Maysles Brothers

Films by The Maysles Brothers. Essay by Charles Taylor. Introduction by Albert Maysles.
Published by Plexifilm

Five Films About Christo and Jeanne-Claude chronicles a 30-year collaboration between the internationally renowned environmental artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, and acclaimed documentary filmmakers Albert and David Maysles. The Maysles brothers, along with such frequent co-filmmakers as Charlotte Zwerin and Susan Froemke, have captured the artists' enduring romantic and artistic relationship and the grandeur of their large-scale temporary public works. This series of award-winning films stands as a permanent document of the process, the political drama, the emotional investment, and the transforming effect the finished works have on all those who come into contact with them. Christo and Jeanne-Claude's artistic undertakings are legendary. Whether they were surrounding islands off the coast of Florida in bright pink fabric, erecting a 24-mile-long, 18-foot-high fence of white cloth across two Northern California counties, or wrapping the Pont Neuf in Paris, their monumental works become narratives of hope and triumph in the face of adversity. And the act of filming becomes a project in and of itself, with the filmmakers present every step of the way, from planning and permission, to execution and display of these temporary artworks.
This three-DVD set is the most complete motion picture collaboration ever released between filmmakers and artists. Five award-winning films are included: Christo's Valley Curtain (1974), Running Fence (1978), Islands (1986), Christo in Paris (1990), and Umbrellas (1995). Each film has been digitally remastered with new transfers supervised by Albert Maysles, and the whole is presented along with new interviews and an 82-page, full-color booklet featuring stills, drawings and essays.