An award to Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Christo and Jeanne-Claude have participated in the Florence Biennale of Contemporary Art. They were awarded with “Lorenzo Il Magnifico” award by the President of the Biennale, Pasquale Celona. After that they offered a lecture illustrating several projects of their career.
Through their collaborative environmental and civic art projects, the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude (Christo Javacheff and Jeanne-Claude de Guillebon) are among the most widely known and influential of contemporary artists. Husband and wife, they were born on the same day, June 13, in 1935: Christo in Bulgaria, Jeanne-Claude in Morocco. They met and were married in Paris in 1958. Since 1961, they have executed installations in Europe, Asia, Australia and the United States, each time expanding the definition of art in public.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude moved to New York city in 1963, where they still reside. Through their long days of work, Christo does the preliminary drawings for their projects, while Jeanne-Claude is primarily responsible for managing the lengthy and complicated arrangements necessary for obtaining authorization to create their artworks in populated cities and landscapes. As explained on their website, the common denominator in their work is the use of fabric or textiles, and not merely 'wrapping'. They seek an expression of joy and lightness. As innovative as their art has been their solution to raising the notable sums required to execute their projects: in order to maintain their independence, Christo and Jeanne-Claude have never sought contributions or financial grants, instead they pay all expenses from the sale of Christo's own works, especially his preliminary drawings.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Wrapped Reichstag
Surrounded Islands
The Gates