Christo

CHRISTO (Bulgaria, 1935–U.S., 2020).
“Wrapped Venus, Project for Villa Borghese, Rome,” 1974.
Lithograph and collage on cardboard.
Signed and numbered in pencil, print no. 144/200.
Published by Christo for the Schweizerischer Kunstvverein St. Gallen.
Printed by Landfall Press, Chicago.
Ref: Catalog of Works: Schellmann/Benecke, no. 74.
Measurements: 65 x 50 cm.

“Wrapped Venus, Project for Villa Borghese, Rome” was one of Christo’s first major works and a direct precursor to the large-scale projects he would later develop with Jeanne-Claude. It consisted of wrapping a classical sculpture of Venus located in the gardens of the Villa Borghese in Rome with translucent plastic and rope. The installation took place in 1963. What makes the project interesting is that it did not seek to completely conceal the sculpture. By wrapping it, Christo transformed a classic and familiar image into a mysterious object: the volume and silhouette remained recognizable, but the details disappeared beneath the fabric and the ties. The artist himself was exploring the tension between revealing and concealing, an idea that would become central to his entire career.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s “wraps” have had a significant impact on the history of contemporary art. This couple of conceptual artists conceived the idea of wrapping public monuments to create the dual effect of making something visible by concealing it: we generally take statues and iconic buildings for granted, so Christo, beginning in the 1970s, set out to redefine them (though most remained only as projects, consisting of plans, drawings, etc.), opting for a form of art that was at once grandiose and ephemeral.

A renowned artistic duo of the late 20th century, Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s wrapped objects are among the most extreme examples of conceptual art. Christo Valdimirov Javacheff studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia from 1952 to 1956, and then spent a year in Prague. In 1957, Christo fled the socialist state and settled in Vienna, from where he traveled to Geneva and finally to Paris. His life in Paris was marked by financial hardship and social isolation, which was compounded by his difficulty in learning French. He earned money by painting portraits, which he compared to prostitution. In January 1958, Christo created his first “wrapped art” piece; he covered an empty paint can with a canvas soaked in acrylic paint. Christo and Jeanne-Claude met in Paris in November 1958. In 1961, he undertook what would be his first project involving large-scale objects, wrapping barrels in the port of Cologne. In 1962, Christo and Jeanne-Claude undertook their first monumental project, “Rideau de fer,” as a statement against the Berlin Wall. The work consisted of blocking Visconti Street, which runs along the river, with oil barrels. Although Christo was simultaneously holding his first gallery exhibition, it was the Visconti project that brought him to prominence in Paris. In 1964, the couple settled in New York. In 1968, they participated in Documenta 4 in Kassel, and in 1969 they undertook one of their most famous projects: wrapping the coastline of Little Bay in Sydney, Australia. Since then, they have carried out numerous large-scale projects around the world, including “Running Fence” and “Wrapped Walkways” in the United States, “Pont Neuf” in Paris, “Umbrellas” in the United States and Japan, and the Reichstag building in Germany.