Land artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude reached the pinnacle of fame with The Gates after a half-century drawing attention to the world around them

By Alexis Brown

On February 12, 2005, miles upon miles of saffron banners were erected along the paths of Central Park. The vibrant orange popped beneath the grey sky, barren trees, and cold ground dusted with snow. Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s The Gates, Central Park, New York, 1979–2005 lasted 16 days, but the artists’– already famous in the art world for their land art installments– became household names with the high-profile exhibit.

“People were aware of The Gates because they were right in Central Park. It was like show time,” said Professor Orville Clarke, Chaffey College land art specialist.

Lingering posters, postcards, and art books in New York City’s major art museums indicate the lasting effect of The Gates on Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s career.

Clarke described the piece as Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s pinnacle of fame to a more universal audience. Everyday New Yorkers were certainly aware of the artwork, whether or not they’d heard about the artists before, and the national media attention heightened their fame.

“Taking art outside of galleries gives the public uninhibited, unfiltered, and uncensored access to the art,” he explained.

Christo, who is known by solely his first name, is Bulgarian-born and first showcased his work in 1958 with Packages and Wrapped Objects in Paris. The same year, he met and later married French-born Jeanne-Claude, who shared his passion for art. Together they embarked on a half-century long career planning and executing land art exhibits for which they’ve come to be recognized.

As in most of the duos’ projects, The Gates was strategically placed in the public sphere, bringing the art to the audience. They installed a moving fence across two counties in Northern California entitled Running Fence, 1972-1976; they surrounded 11 islands off the coast of Florida in pink fabric entitled Surrounded Islands, 1980-1983; and they wrapped the Reichstag, or German Parliament building, entitled Wrapped Reichstag, 1971-1995 in Berlin.

Each artwork had the added allure of time sensitivity. Most exhibits lasted a few weeks, while others were as short as a couple hours, like the 1961 installment that inspired those to come.

“Wall of Oil Barrels deepened Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s belief in the idea that artworks can be temporary and not made to last forever,” wrote Jan Greenberg in Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Through the Gates and Beyond. Christo blocked a Paris road, while Jeanne-Claude held the crowd, until the police aided Christo in their removal.

“Christo knows how to play the game,” said Clarke. “Part of what makes his art so exciting is that it’s up for two weeks, it vanishes, and people are still talking about it.”

Both Christo and Jeanne-Claude contributed to their body of work, each generating ideas and fighting for project approval by the various site governments, but Jeanne-Claude was not recognized as a collaborating artist until Wrapped Reichstag, 1971-1995. Because being an artist wasn’t an acceptable profession for women, Jeanne-Claude worked behind the scenes for 37 years of their partnership.

“Everyone knows Christo, but hardly anyone outside the art world knows about Jeanne-Claude. That’s the nature of fame,” Clarke said. “People don’t want to know that there’s a whole team behind the project.”

In fact, all of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s outdoor exhibits required the approval of local authorities for their work to be displayed. Germany’s state government allowed its central building to be wrapped in polypropylene fabric. Christo and Jeanne-Claude assured animal activist groups in Florida the same fabric wouldn’t harm local wildlife. And New York City gave the go-ahead after 26 years of the artists’ preparations.

“There were so many people who had to say ‘yes’ for them to move forward,” Clarke said.

Once the couple reached recognizable fame within the art world, with The Pont Neuf Wrapped, Paris 1975-85, according to Clarke, they used their influence for furthering their works in progress. But they wanted the emphasis to be on the art. When the lights turned on, Christo and Jeanne-Claude tried to stay out of the picture, often turning away from photographs as they observed their work.

“They used their fame when they could, then stepped away,” Clarke said. “That’s the best of both worlds.”

Christo and Jeanne-Claude remain revered land artists, even through Jeanne-Claude’s death in November 2009. Questions arose about whether their current works in progress would be finished what with one half of the partnership laid to rest. Still on their list of slated projects are Over the River, Project for the Arkansas River, State of Colorado, where fabric will be suspended over said river as early as 2013, and The Mastaba, Project for the United Arab Emirates, constructed with stainless steel oil barrels, each financed by the sale of Christo’s drawings and plans for previous projects.

“I really cannot say what will happen next,” said Greenberg. “But Christo is a consummate artist.”