Christo and Jeanne-Claude

The work of the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude transcends borders, resists categorizing, and embraces contradiction. This is the only large-format book that includes all of their projects, from Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s works from 1958 to urban and rural temporary works of art, such as The Gates in Central Park, the Wrapped Reichstag in Berlin, and Running Fence in California.

Part biography, part critical analysis, part catalogue, this lavish Collector’s Edition, designed by Christo himself, gives a detailed overview of the life and work of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, from early drawings and family photos to plans for future projects. It features hundreds of previously unpublished photographs, drawings and plans for realized works, an incisive and detailed history spanning the entire oeuvre, and in-depth interviews.

In addition to a thorough photographic documentation of all of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s work, the book includes the transcript of a conversation between the artists and Paul Goldberger, the last conversation about her work that Jeanne-Claude had before her death in late 2009. This book is an eloquent homage to Jeanne-Claude, and a celebration of the work of two artists whose imagination has affected the landscape of every continent.

Art Edition of 94 signed and numbered copies, each with the original pigment/silk-screen print Project for Jewelry on Jeanne-Claude’s Hand, signed by Christo.
 
Also available as an Art Edition of six copies, each accompanied by original works of Over The River, Project for Arkansas River, State of Colorado and The Mastaba, Project for United Arab Emirates.

The artists: Christo and Jeanne-Claude began their collaboration in 1961, and lived in New York City since 1964. Jeanne-Claude died in 2009; Christo died in 2020. Their large-scale projects include Wrapped Coast, Australia, 1968–69; Valley Curtain, Rifle, Colorado, 1970–72; Running Fence, Sonoma and Marin Counties, California, 1972–76; Surrounded Islands, Biscayne Bay, Florida, 1980–83; The Pont Neuf Wrapped, Paris, 1975–85; The Umbrellas, Japan–USA, 1984–91; Wrapped Reichstag, Berlin, 1971–95; Wrapped Trees, Riehen, Switzerland, 1997–98; The Gates, Central Park, New York City, 1979–2005; The Floating Piers, Lake Iseo, Italy, 2014–16, The London Mastaba, Serpentine Lake, Hyde Park, 2016–18, and L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped, Paris, 1961–2021.

The photographer: Wolfgang Volz has worked with Christo and Jeanne-Claude as the exclusive photographer of their works since 1971. He was also project director (with Roland Specker) for Wrapped Reichstag, Berlin, 1971–95 and (with Josy Kraft) for Wrapped Trees, Riehen, Switzerland, 1997–98, and was in charge of The Wall – 13,000 Oil Barrels, Gasometer Oberhausen, Germany, 1998–99 and Big Air Package, Gasometer Oberhausen, Germany, 2010–13. His close collaboration has resulted in many books and more than 300 exhibitions in museums and galleries around the world.

The author: Paul Goldberger is the Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic of The New Yorker, where, since 1997, he has written the "Sky Line" column, and is the author of several books, including Why Architecture Matters (2009) and Christo and Jeanne-Claude (2010, for TASCHEN). He lectures widely on architecture, design, historic preservation and cities, and has taught at both Yale School of Architecture and the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.