On May 31, Christo, the master of ephemeral packaging, left us.
Until October 19, 2020, the Center Pompidou pays tribute to him with a major exhibition entitled “Christo et Jeanne-Claude PARIS!”
Fleeing communism, the young Bulgarian Christo Vladimiroff Javacheff, arrived in Paris in 1958. His path crossed that of Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon, daughter of a relative of General de Gaulle, born exactly the same day as him … He will then always work with her, until her death in 2009.
“This exhibition is called Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the two names must remain inseparable”, underlines to AFP Sophie Duplaix, curator of the exhibition, who evokes a duo “very in love”.
Jeanne-Claude will play a leading role for communication and the implementation of joint artistic projects.
The first part first evokes the Parisian period, between 1958 and 1964, seven years essential for the development of the artist’s work.
Initially, says Sophie Duplaix, “Christo worked on pleated surfaces, stiffened with lacquer. And gradually this work will develop with the packaging of everyday objects; he observes the fabric playing on an object and how the strings create lines of force … “
“What he did on a small scale, he has only one desire, to project it onto urban public space …”
A second part traces the history, from 1975 to 1985, of a fantastic project, the packaging of the Pont-Neuf in Paris!
Wrap up the Pont-Neuf in Paris with recyclable polypropylene canvas in golden sandstone (40,000m2), and ropes (13,000 m), wrap up its sides, its vaults, its 12 arches, its parapets, its sidewalks, its 44 lampposts … also the vertical walls of the median at the western tip of the Île de la Cité as well as the Vert-Galant esplanade!
The project “The Pont-Neuf wrapped” will take ten years to see the light of day, overcoming all the difficulties and oppositions, after many negotiations carried out with politicians, from Michel Debré to Jacques Chirac, François Mitterrand and Jack Lang, Jeanne -Claude skillfully playing on his entry into Gaullist circles.
A real epic!
On display are drawings, collages, period photos, a model, archival documents, studies, engineering elements and a film of this spectacular and complex achievement which required the intervention of divers, rope access technicians and all kinds of trades.
By packaging the Pont-Neuf in an ephemeral way, Christo reminded us that this major work of our heritage is a permanent gift from the past offered to Parisians and tourists.
Hide, hide, the better to show, unveil – a way to stimulate desire – … reveal this construction in its architectural qualities by emphasizing its volumes …
“Christo adored the work of conviction; he liked to challenge people, to scrape …”, commented Serge Lasvignes, president of the Center Georges-Pompidou, reviewing his some 42 projects of which about twenty have been carried out, such as the packaging of the Reichstag in Berlin, The Gates, installation in Central Park in New York, The London Mastaba in Hyde Park consisting of 7,506 barrels, The Floating Piers of Lake Iseo in Italy, The Umbrellas in California, Valley Curtain in Colorado, Surrounded Islands at Miami …
And let’s not forget that Christo had known the Iron Curtain and the shackles of communism under whose yoke was his country that he had to flee …
The exhibition is also presented as a preview of the project “L’Arc de Triomphe wrapped” which will be visible on Place de l’Etoile in Paris from September 18 to October 3, 2021, with a year late due to the coronavirus. The packaging will also be done with absolute respect for heritage and according to the principle of self-financing.
When they packed their monumental presents, weren’t Christo and Jeanne-Claude in the same state of excitement and wonder as these children eager to open their Christmas or birthday presents?
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