Christo

CHRISTO (Bulgaria, 1935- USA, 2020).
"Reichstag wrapped (project for Berlin)", 1994.
Offset with embossed silver thermal paper.
Attached in the framing is a piece of original fabric used in the project.
Hand signed by the artist with crayon.
Measurements: 39 x 30 cm (offset); 27 x 21 cm (canvas); 59 x 78 cm (frame).
Wrapped Reichstag, Project for Berlin is an environmental artwork featuring the Berlin Reichstag building wrapped in fabric. Rita Süssmuth, newly elected President of the Bundestag, expressed interest in the project in 1989, precipitating its approval. The project had been rejected three times over the course of six Bundestag presidents and 24 years before a Bundestag debate on February 26, 1994, voted to approve it. The wrapped Reichstag was assembled in 1995 for two weeks as 100,000 square meters of silver cloth covered the building and was fastened with blue rope. The Reichstag, which had not been in use, was subsequently rebuilt for parliamentary use in 1999. Christo described the wrapped Reichstag as autobiographical. It became a symbol of unified Germany and marked Berlin's return as a world city. The Guardian posthumously described the work as the couple's "most spectacular achievement".
A renowned artistic couple of the late 20th century, Christo and Jeanne-Claude's wrapped objects are some of the most extreme examples of conceptual art. Christo Valdimirov Javacheff studied between 1952 and 1956 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia, then spent a year in Prague. In 1957 Christo fled the socialist state and settled in Vienna, from where he would travel to Geneva and finally to Paris. His life in Paris was characterized by economic deprivation and social isolation, which was increased by his difficulty in learning the French language. He earned money painting portraits, which he likened to prostitution. In January 1958, Christo made his first piece of "wrapped art"; he covered an empty paint jar with a canvas soaked in acrylic. Christo and Jeanne-Claude met in Paris in November 1958. In 1961 he tackled what would be his first project with large objects, wrapping barrels in the port of Cologne. In 1962, Christo and Jeanne-Claude tackled their first monumental project, "Rideau de fer", as a statement against the Berlin Wall. The work consisted of blocking off Visconti Street over the river with oil barrels. Although Christo was simultaneously holding his first gallery exhibition, it was the Visconti project that made him known 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, that of wrapping the shoreline of Little Bay in Sydney, Australia. Since then, they have completed numerous large-scale projects around the world, including "Running fence" and "Wrapped walk ways" in the United States, "Pont Neuf" in Paris, "Umbrellas" in the United States and Japan, and the Reichstag building in Germany.