Christo Javacheff

The Bulgarian artist Christo, born on June 13, 1935 as Christo Vladimirov Yavashev in Gabrovo, became world famous as a so-called packaging artist. From initially small-format packaging and lacing in the 1960s to increasingly massive temporary wrapping of entire buildings and artistic access to islands and landscapes, the concept of Christo's art, which he developed together with his French wife Jeanne-Claude (born on the same day as Christo in Casablanca, French Morocco), includes wrapping and unveiling, making visible through accentuation, and raising awareness through temporary loss. Christo attended the Academy of Arts in Sofia in Bulgaria 1953-1956. Rejecting the communist regime, Christo then travels via Prague to Vienna, where he briefly attends the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1958 Christo goes to Paris, where he also earns his living with portrait painting. Here he meets Jeanne-Claude de Guillebon and they become a couple. From 1964 Christo and Jeanne-Claude live in New York. Christo was granted U.S. citizenship in 1973, and Jeanne-Claude, a Frenchwoman, in 1984. Covering and uncovering, making visible through artistic accentuation. In 1968 Christo and Jeanne-Claude take part in Documenta IV in Kassel and attract international attention at the latest now with the elongated, vertically floating balloon with a volume of 5,600 cubic meters. The following art projects such as the wrapping of a coastal strip near Sydney ("Wrapped Coast", 1969), the "Valley Curtain" (1970) as a huge curtain through a 400 meter wide valley of the Rocky Mountains, the realization of the 5.5 meter high fence "Running Fence" (1976) 39.5 kilometers through the Californian landscape become organizational mega projects with years of preparation. Christo and Jeanne-Claude always emphasize that they act without commission and entirely at their own expense. The art projects are financed by the sale of Christo's preparatory drawings and graphics as well as the photographic rights. Jeanne-Claude keeps in touch with galleries and collectors, such as Leo Castelli in New York or Galerie Schmela in Düsseldorf, who are the first to trade Christo's works. Buildings and landscapes transformed into art objects. Also in 1972 and 1977 Christo and Jeanne-Claude participate in Documenta 5 and 6 in Kassel. The list of further realized projects remains spectacular: in 1983 Christo and Jeanne-Claude surround eleven islands of Biscayne Bay near Miami with pink, floating polypropylene fabric. In 1985 they cover the Pont Neuf in Paris with 40,000 square meters of sand-colored polyamide fabric for just under a month. It takes until 1991 to realize "The Umbrellas, Japan USA" with 1,340 giant blue umbrellas in Ibaraki (Japan) and 1,760 yellow umbrellas in California (USA), which open on September 9, 1991. Three million visitors marvel at this 26 million project. The wrapping of the Reichstag in Berlin follows in 1995, and in 1998 the "Wrapped Trees", 178 wrapped trees, can be seen in the park of the Fondation Beyeler in Riehen/Basel. In 2005, 7,503 tall metal gates with orange waving fabric panels stand on the paths of New York's Central Park. In 2016, Lago d'Iseo in Italy becomes a place of pilgrimage for enthusiastic visitors to the temporary installation "The Floating Piers." It is the first project that Christo realizes alone, as Jeanne-Claude already passes away on November 18, 2009 in New York. Posthumous wrapping: L'Arc de Triomphe in Paris. An event that had already been planned since 1962 will take place posthumously in Paris in the fall of 2021: the wrapping of the Arc de Triomphe. Christo dies during the preparations on May 31, 2020 in New York. His nephew Vladimir Yavashev completes the project.