Christo
United States, 1935 - 2020
Person TypeIndividual
BiographyChristo (born Hristo Yavachev) and Jeanne-Claude (born Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon) were a married couple who created environmental installation art. Their works include the wrapping of the Reichstag in Berlin and the Pont Neuf bridge in Paris, the 24-mile-long curtain called Running Fence in Marin and Sonoma counties in California, and The Gates in New York City's Central Park. Although their work is visually impressive and often controversial as a result of its scale, the artists have repeatedly denied that their projects contain any deeper meaning than their immediate aesthetic. The purpose of their art, they contended, is simply to make the world a "more beautiful place" or to create new ways of seeing familiar landscapes. Art critic David Bourdon has described Christo's wrappings as a "revelation through concealment."
