Christo e Jeanne-Claude

He Museum of Modern Art in Lugano is presenting a comprehensive anthology of the works of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the environmental artists who played an original part at the forefront of 20th century art history.

The retrospective, managed by Rudy Chiappini, documents the main themes and moments of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's multi-faceted studies from the first Packages and Wrapped Objects, various objects concealed in cloth and twine, created in the late Fifties, to the creation of Store Fronts (1963) and Oil Barrels Structures (1967).

Working side by side since the Sixties to conceive and create works away from the places traditionally intended for artistic production, together they have formed a perfect partnership, working in urban and rural environment, and transforming objects, buildings or landscapes, making the project and the action breathe as one, coming together in a new aesthetic dimension.
Through preparatory drawings, studies, collages and scale models - all genuine works of art in their own right - the Lugano exhibition helps to approach the complex connections between the project phases of their works, and see the final transient creations, of which there now remains but a memory and photographs by Wolfgang Volz.

The main projects exhibited, all strongly suggestive, were created first in Paris - Wall of Oil Barrels, The Iron Curtain, Rue Visconti, 1961-62 - in Kassel for Documenta 4 - 5,600 Cubicmeter Package, 1967-68 - in Bern - Wrapped Kunsthalle, 1967-68 - then in Australia - Wrapped Coast, One Million Square Feet, Little Bay, Sydney, 1968-69 - in California - Running Fence, Sonoma and Marin Counties, 1972-76 - in Paris - The Pont Neuf Wrapped, 1975-85 - in Berlin - Wrapped Reichstag, 1971-95 - and finally The Gates, Central Park, 1979-2005 in New York City where they live since 1964. There is also a preview of the next project planned for the State of Colorado, Over the River, Project for the Arkansas River, for which the artists have been working at getting the permits from federal, state and local agencies since 1992.

The exhibition is accompanied by an extensive catalogue - published in two distinct versions, in Italian and English - which illustrates the whole creative path of these two significant and renowned figures of the 20th century artistic panorama. The volume includes essays by Rudy Chiappini (Christo and Jeanne-Claude), Albert Elsen (The Freedom to Be Christo and Jeanne-Claude), Molly Donovan (Wrapping Things Up: Finality in the Early Works of Christo and Jeanne-Claude) and Werner Spies (The Fascination of Ephemeral Projects).

The catalogue is divided into two main sections: the first is dedicated to the works of art belonging to the early years of artistic production (1958-1968), the second to the projects realized in public spaces from 1968 to today. Of each creative period, which is characterized by variegated works with distinctive qualities, it will also be possible to look at the introductory extracts that have been written by some of the most insightful champions of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's work. These are close and comprehensive commentary texts that consent an in-depth analysis of this famous couple's motivations, style and original expressive depiction of art. Each project included in the second part of the catalogue is also accompanied by the press releases originally written and edited by the artists themselves as official presentation to the general public. The strength of these documents lies in the fact that they resume the technical and operational descriptions of each accomplishment.
The catalogue is completed by a rich section of appendixes, inclusive of a biography, a partial list of solo exhibitions, a selected bibliography and the list of works.