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Wrap Artists: The Works of Christo and Jeanne-ClaudeThe work of the artist with the single name, Christo, and his wife, Jeanne-Claude, has elicited comparisons with Cubism, Dada, and Surrealism—or even Bach, with its fugal repetitions of themes.
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| The Gates, Project for Central Park, New York; collage, pencil, pastel, charcoal, chalk, cloth, cardboard, aerial photograph; 1992. (Photo © Christo) |
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Christo is, of course, notorious for wrapping buildings, bridges, and coastlines. But that is not the only thing he and Jeanne-Claude do. None of their projects is permanent; though they take many years of planning, most last two weeks or less. Their art, like theater or music, is ephemeral, but it has been preserved by means of film and photography.In 1972 workers installed Christo's Valley Curtain in Colorado; made of bright orange nylon, it weighed 8,000 pounds and spanned 1,200 feet, across a canyon. Running Fence, in California's Sonoma and Marin counties, took three years to complete, cost more than $3 million, and consisted of white nylon suspended on poles, 18 feet high, and running along 24.5 miles. In 1984-91, they designed umbrellas that were built and installed in both Japan and the United States. This coming February the artists will install The Gates in Central Park for about two weeks. These art works invariably provoke controversy, sometimes inciting people to question whether they are art at all.The exhibition "Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The Würth Museum Collection," at the National Academy Museum through January 2, might just put all doubts to rest. Featuring about 65 works from more than five decades, this is a stunning show, every bit as beautiful, craftsman-like, and labor-intensive as any art exhibition you will ever see. Musicians will surely find the Wrapped Violin of 1994 intriguing, as well as many other small objects, which are transformed by means of coverings or partial veiling.
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| Wrapped Chairs, Wrapped Table, Wrapped Bar Table, and Wrapped Armchair; tables, chairs, armchair, cotton fabric, and rope; 1995. (Photo © Christo) |
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At the press opening in October, the artists answered a number of questions. Did they consider public reactions an integral part of the importance of the controversial projects? For example, when they completed wrapping the Pont Neuf in Paris on September 22, 1985, or the Reichstag in Berlin on June 24, 1995, thousands of people assembled to see the results, and a carnival atmosphere prevailed. "No," said the artists; they make the art for themselves. In fact, they strive to avoid publicity (an overstatement, I think) because they fear too many people will congregate, causing problems. Do their wrapped objects have anything to do with draped figures of history? (One passes several partially draped academic nudes in the Academy, while visiting the exhibition). Well, they are certainly aware that artists have employed drapery for thousands of years, but no, these are not based on historical precedents. What is the purpose and meaning of their art? They speak of creating disturbances, of passing through nature, of transformations. Christo has said that his work must never be impossible to accomplish, but should stay on the edge of impossible. It is about motion, about process, about changing one's visual perception. The artists have no interest in functionality; it is the aesthetics that interest them. Freedom, changeability, new perspectives—these are the artists' goals.In order to carry out these incredibly expensive projects, Christo and Jeanne-Claude raise funds through the sales of original works, preparatory collages, paintings, and drawings. They themselves totally subsidize their public projects, receiving no money for the temporary works they create.The Gates, more than 20 years in the planning, will consist of a series of 7,500 suspended fabric panels, following walkways in Central Park. Saffron-colored, they will be affected by weather and wind. Structures will be elevated on February 7, and cloth released from restraining cocoons on February 12, weather permitting. The artists have said, "For those who will walk through The Gates, following the walkways, and staying away from the grass, The Gates will be a golden ceiling creating warm shadows. When seen from the buildings surrounding Central Park, The Gates will seem like a golden river appearing and disappearing through the bare branches of the trees and will highlight the shape of the footpaths." This will add color and movement to the park during a barren time of the year. The gates will function somewhat like blinds, opening and closing off views of the sky, and 16 days after their appearance, they will be removed. The show at the National Academy ends January 2, but look for The Gates in Central Park from February 12-28. For more details, see the Web site: www.christojeanneclaude.net.For the December-January edition of The Juilliard Journal, I also want to suggest other art you can see further along in January. The Whitney Museum will have several important shows at that time.First, there is "The Art of Romare Bearden." Following its acclaimed showing at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Dallas Museum of Art, it has stopped at the Whitney, but only until January 9. It is the first major retrospective of the African-American artist from New York City, who loved jazz, painted colorful canvases, and specialized in collage and printmaking. Bearden (1911-1988) spent his early years in the South, but later migrated with his parents to Harlem, where he resided during the Harlem Renaissance, forming close friendships with the likes of Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington, and Aaron Douglas. Also influenced by Europeans, such as Matisse and Mondrian, Bearden is one of a few Americans to be considered an essential part of modern art's mainstream.
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| Wrapped Violin; violin, fabric, plastic (with black case of violin); 1994. (Photo © Christo) |
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You will find Bearden's work exciting because he is one of America's great artists. But it is especially interesting for the Juilliard community that his designs for record covers, stage sets, and costumes have been included among the paintings. Bearden was a renaissance artist in more ways than one. Indeed, the video Romare Bearden, Visual Jazz, narrated by Wynton Marsalis, shows how close the artist's sensibility is to that of jazz musicians. (The Juilliard library has a copy.) A cycle of paintings by another major African-American artist, Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) will be on view through January 31. The War Series (1946-47) is a series of 14 panels Lawrence made depicting the full force of racial discrimination, as he experienced it during his wartime stint as a member of the U.S. Coast Guard from 1943. This powerful work has sometimes been compared to Goya's Disasters of War.Last, until January 16, there is a large show of the sculpture of Isamu Noguchi, featuring 60 sculptures and 20 related drawings.Half Japanese, half American, Noguchi (1904-1988) lived in Japan during his early childhood. As an adult, he traveled back and forth between the U.S. and Japan, spending two years (1927-8) in Paris, where he got to know the Romanian sculptor Constantine Brancusi. Noguchi's innovative sculpture combines Asian, modern European, and American influences, along with his own spiritual and formalist conceptions. He is well known to dancers for his collaborations with Martha Graham, and his entire oeuvre is modern, and influential. Indeed, he is considered one of the great modernist sculptors of the 20th century.There will be other Whitney exhibitions as well, including the museum's important permanent collection. This may be a lot to take in, but this Juilliard Journal covers two months that include a long holiday. So maybe, just maybe, you will have time to do it. (And don't forget to see Christo's The Gates in Central Park in February.)The National Academy Museum is at 1083 Fifth Avenue (at 89th Street). It is open Wednesday-Thursday from noon to 5 p.m.; and Friday-Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. (It is closed on Monday, Tuesday, and on public holidays.)The Whitney Museum of American Art is at 945 Madison Avenue (at 75th Street). It is open Tuesday-Thursday and Saturday-Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Friday from 1 to 9 p.m. (It is closed Monday.) Art historian Greta Berman has been on the liberal arts faculty since 1979.
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