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83-731: Christo Vladimirov Javacheff (1935–2020) and Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon (1935–2009), known as Christo and Jeanne-Claude , were artists noted for their large-scale, site-specific environmental installations , often large landmarks and landscape elements wrapped in fabric, including the Wrapped Reichstag , The Pont Neuf Wrapped , Running Fence in California , and The Gates in New York City 's Central Park . Born in Bulgaria and Morocco , respectively,

166-582: A Primetime Emmy for 1985's Vladimir Horowitz: The Last Romantic alongside Albert. A 2006 musical based on Grey Gardens premiered at Playwrights Horizons and transferred to Broadway later that same year. A dramatized version of the Maysles brothers making the Beales documentary appeared in the 2009 HBO film Grey Gardens ; actor Arye Gross portrayed Albert and Justin Louis portrayed David. In 2015

249-650: A parallax both between locations, and messages, but also by the way one interprets neon signs in the public realm. Site-specific performance art, site-specific visual art and interventions are commissioned for the annual Infecting the City Festival in Cape Town , South Africa. The site-specific nature of the work allows artists to interrogate the contemporary and historic reality of the Central Business District and create work that allows

332-481: A career as a psychology professor and researcher. After serving in the U.S. Army Tank Corps during World War II , Albert obtained a BA from Syracuse University and MA in psychology from Boston University . He taught psychology at Boston University for three years, also working as a research assistant at a mental hospital and as head of a research project at Massachusetts General Hospital . As an outgrowth of his research work, he traveled to Russia to photograph

415-456: A corporation to benefit from tax and other liabilities, a form they used for later projects. Following a failed attempt to mount the curtain in late 1971, a new engineer and builder-contractor raised the fabric in August 1972. The work only stood for 28 hours before the wind again destroyed the fabric. This work, their most expensive to date and first to involve construction workers, was captured in

498-406: A definition of site-specific art: "To move the work is to destroy the work." Outdoor site-specific artworks often include landscaping combined with permanently sited sculptural elements; it is sometimes linked with environmental art . Outdoor site-specific artworks can also include dance performances created especially for the site. More broadly, the term is sometimes used for any work that

581-506: A diameter of 50 m (160 ft) and a volume of 177,000 m (6,300,000 cu ft). The monumental work of art was, temporarily, the largest self-supporting sculpture in the world. In the accessible interior of Big Air Package , the artist generated a unique experience of space, proportions, and light. In 2014, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego presented the exhibit X-TO + J-C: Christo and Jeanne-Claude Featuring Works from

664-404: A documentary by David and Albert Maysles . Christo's Valley Curtain was nominated for Best Documentary Short in the 1974 Academy Awards . The Maysles would film many of the artists' later projects. Inspired by a snow fence, in 1972, Christo and Jeanne-Claude began preparations for Running Fence : a 24.5-mile fence of white nylon, supported by steel posts and steel cables, running through

747-592: A lecture in which he discussed two works that were in progress: Over the River, Project for the Arkansas River, Colorado , and The Mastaba, Project for the United Arab Emirates . The Floating Piers were a series of walkways installed at Lake Iseo near Brescia , Italy. From June 18 to July 3, 2016, visitors were able to walk just above the surface of the water from the village of Sulzano on

830-517: A mental hospital, and returned the following year with a camera provided by CBS to film his first documentary, Psychiatry in Russia (1955). Although CBS did not air the film, it was televised on NBC , on the public broadcasting station WGBH-TV in Boston, and on Canadian network television. David also studied psychology at Boston University, receiving a BA. Also like his brother, David served in

913-574: A nonprofit organization dedicated to the exhibition and production of documentary films that inspire dialogue and action, located in Harlem . Albert died of pancreatic cancer at his home in Manhattan on March 5, 2015, aged 88. His films Iris , about fashion icon Iris Apfel , and In Transit , about the longest train route in the United States, were released posthumously later that year. At

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996-471: A paint can. His collection of wrapped household items would be known as his Inventory . In February 1958, Christo left for Paris, having received a visa with the assistance of a Sofia academy connection. In 1973, after 17 stateless years, Christo became a United States citizen. He died at his home in New York City on May 31, 2020, at 84. No cause of death was specified. L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped ,

1079-584: A planned work by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, went ahead posthumously in Paris in September 2021. Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon ( French: [ʒan klod dəna də gijəbɔ̃] ) was born in Casablanca, Morocco , where her father, an army officer, was stationed. Her mother, Précilda, was 17 when she married Jeanne-Claude's father, Major Léon Denat. Précilda and Léon Denat divorced shortly after Jeanne-Claude

1162-535: A railcar stowaway. He had little money after paying the bribe, did not speak the language, had deserted during his Bulgarian military service, and feared being trapped in a refugee camp. In Vienna, he stayed with a family friend (who had not expected him), studied at the Vienna Fine Arts Academy , and surrendered his passport to seek political asylum as a stateless person . There, he supported himself with commissions and briefly visited Italy with

1245-803: A situation as it's happening [with his camera] and pay much closer attention and somehow anticipate what's going to happen the next moment, be ready for it and get it, the way people with normal attention spans are incapable of doing." The Maysles brothers' films Salesman and Grey Gardens have been preserved in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry as being culturally, historically or aesthetically significant. In May 2002, Ralph Blumenthal in The New York Times referred to Albert as "the dean of documentary film making" and Jean-Luc Godard once called Albert "the best American cameraman". The moving image collection of Albert and David Maysles

1328-532: Is held at the Academy Film Archive . The archive has preserved two of the Maysleses' films: Showman , in 2012, and Salesman , in 2018. Their only Oscar nomination was for the 1973 short film Christo's Valley Curtain . Albert was awarded a 2013 National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama on July 28, 2014. He also won a Primetime Emmy for 1991's Soldiers of Music . David won

1411-480: Is more or less permanently attached to a particular location. In this sense, a building with interesting architecture could also be considered a piece of site-specific art. In Geneva, Switzerland, the Contemporary Art Funds are looking for original ways to integrate art into architecture and the public space since 1980. The Neon Parallax project, initiated in 2004, is conceived specifically for

1494-407: Is similar to cinéma vérité. They broke tradition with mid-century documentary tropes by eschewing narration, inter-titles and extraneous music tracks. The editing process could be interpreted as their narrative "voice," depending on what footage and sound they chose to use and how the timeline of the story unfolded in the final cut. Their success from a technical aspect was based in part on separating

1577-479: The Berlin Wall . They developed consistent, longtime terms of their collaboration. They together imagined projects, for which Christo would create sketches and preparatory works that were later sold to fund the resulting installation. Christo and Jeanne-Claude hired assistants to do the work of wrapping the object at hand. They originally worked under the name "Christo" to simplify dealings and their brand, given

1660-728: The Dorchester neighborhood of Boston , living there until the family moved to Brookline, Massachusetts when Albert was 13. Albert and David's parents, both Jewish, were immigrants to the United States; their father, born in Ukraine, was employed as a postal clerk, while their mother, originally from Poland, was a schoolteacher. The family originally settled in Dorchester to be near relatives (the brothers' great-uncle Josef Maysles and his daughter and son-in-law, Becky and Joe Kandib) who had moved there earlier. Albert originally pursued

1743-515: The Iron Curtain , Russian Close-Up (credited to Albert Maysles alone) and Youth in Poland , the latter of which was broadcast on NBC . By 1960, the Maysles brothers had joined Drew Associates, the documentary film company founded by photojournalist Robert Drew which also included Richard Leacock and D. A. Pennebaker . Albert would film, while David would handle sound. During this time,

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1826-804: The Pérez Art Museum Miami presented Christo Drawings: A Gift from the Maria Bechily and Scott Hodes Collection , comprising drawings and project sketches produced by Christo and his life partner and artistic collaborator Jeane-Claude between the 1960s and the 2000s. Jeanne-Claude and Christo were born on the same day in 1935; Jeanne-Claude in Morocco and Christo in Bulgaria. Christo outlived Jeanne-Claude by ten-and-a-half years. Christo Vladimirov Javacheff ( Bulgarian : Христо Владимиров Явашев , [xrisˈtɔ vlɐˈdimirof jaˈvaʃɛf] )

1909-514: The election of President Trump , Christo canceled the controversial project citing protest of the new administration as well as tiring from the hard-fought legal battle waged by local residents. Continuing their series of monumental "wrapping" projects, the Arc de Triomphe in Paris was wrapped in 30,000 square meters of recyclable polypropylene fabric in silvery blue, and 7,000 meters (23,000 feet) of red rope. Originally scheduled for autumn of 2020, it

1992-486: The Bequest of David C. Copley , one of the museum's patrons and trustees who also had the largest collection of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's work in the United States. X-TO + J-C featured more than fifty works by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, including pieces such as Christo's evocative Package (1960), alongside drawings related to his early concealed objects: chairs, road signs, and other commonplace items. Christo himself gave

2075-783: The California landscape and into the ocean. In exchange for temporary use of ranch land, the artists agreed to offer payment and use of the deconstructed building materials. Others challenged its construction in 18 public hearings and three state court sessions. The fence began construction in April 1976 and the project culminated in a two-week display in September, after which it was deconstructed. Their 1978 Wrapped Walk Ways covered paths within Kansas City, Missouri 's Loose Park in 12,540 square meters (135,000 square feet) of saffron-colored nylon fabric covering 4.4 kilometers (2.7 miles) of

2158-489: The IFC mockumentary series Documentary Now! paid homage to Grey Gardens with the episode "Sandy Passage" which follows two women named "Big Vivvy" and "Little Vivvy" and takes "An in depth look at the daily lives of two aging socialites and their crumbling estate." The 2016 episode "Globesman", about globe salesmen in the 1960s, is inspired by Salesman . Episode 3 of the 2024 TV series Feud: Capote vs. The Swans recounts

2241-408: The Maysleses worked closely with film editor Charlotte Zwerin , who received a directing credit for her work on Gimme Shelter . Zwerin eventually stopped working with the Maysleses because, according to Zwerin, they would not let her produce. David Maysles, the younger brother, died of a stroke on January 3, 1987, seven days shy of his 56th birthday, in New York City . Following his death, Albert

2324-519: The Plaine de Plainpalais, a public square of 95'000 square meters, in the heart of the city. The concept consists of commissioning luminous artistic works for the rooftops of the buildings bordering the plaza, in the same way, advertisements are installed on the city's glamorous lakefront. The 14 artists invited had to respect the same legal sizes of luminous advertisements in Geneva. The project thus creates

2407-519: The Pont Neuf continued the tradition of transforming a sculptural dimension into a work of art. The fabric maintained the principal shapes of the Pont Neuf but it emphasized the details and the proportions. As with Surrounded Islands, workers who assisted with the installation and deinstallation of Pont Neuf Wrapped wore uniforms designed by Willi Smith. Their 1991 The Umbrellas involved

2490-640: The Soviet avant-garde . On the weekends, academy students were sent to paint propaganda and Christo unhappily participated. He found work as a location scout for the state cinema and served three tours of duty during summer breaks. In 1956, he used an academy connection to receive permission to visit family in Prague , where the theater of Emil František Burian reinvigorated him. Amid fears of further Russian suppression in Hungary, Christo decided to flee to Vienna as

2573-679: The U.S. Army and was stationed in West Germany during the Korean War . In the mid-1950s, he worked as a Hollywood production assistant on the Marilyn Monroe films Bus Stop and The Prince and the Showgirl . David later stated that he grew "disenchanted with conventional filming. The glamour had faded and the filming of take after take had become tedious." By 1957 he had teamed up with Albert to shoot two documentaries behind

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2656-566: The academy, whose program he found equally unhappy as the one before it. At the behest of a friend relocated from Sofia, he saved up to visit Geneva in late 1957. In violation of his visa, he continued to pursue commissions (whose works he would sign with his family name, reserving his given name for more serious work) and was transformed after visiting the Kunstmuseum Basel and Kunsthaus Zürich . In January 1958, he first began to wrap things, as would become his trademark, starting with

2739-658: The artists planned to recoup by selling project documentation. Christo filled the Gasometer Oberhausen from March 16 until December 30, 2013, with the installation Big Air Package . After The Wall (1999) as the final installation of the Emscher Park International Building Exhibition, Big Air Package was his second work of art in the Gasometer. The " Big Air Package – Project for Gasometer Oberhausen, Germany"

2822-473: The back reading “Christo Surrounded Islands”, and then in acknowledging the garment's designer, "designed and produced by Willi Smith ". Jeanne-Claude became an American citizen in March 1984. The couple received permission to wrap the Pont Neuf , a bridge in Paris, in August 1985. The bridge stayed wrapped for two weeks (22 Sep - 5 Oct 1985). The Pont Neuf Wrapped attracted three million visitors. Wrapping

2905-503: The brothers worked on Drew Associates films such as Primary and Adventures on the New Frontier . In 1962, Albert and David left Drew Associates to form their own production company, Maysles Films, Inc. The Maysles brothers made over 30 films together. They are best known for three documentaries made in the late 1960s and early 1970s: Salesman (1969), Gimme Shelter (1970), and Grey Gardens (1975). Salesman documents

2988-683: The building, fastened with blue rope. Christo described the Reichstag wrapping as autobiographical based on his Bulgarian upbringing. The wrapping became symbolic of unified Germany and marked Berlin's return as a world city. The Guardian posthumously described the work as their "most spectacular achievement". In 1998, the artists wrapped trees at the Beyeler Foundation and its nearby Berower Park. Prior attempts had failed to secure government support in St. Louis, Missouri , and Paris. The work

3071-495: The camera from the sound recording device (David used a Nagra ) by accurately controlling the speed of the camera and the tape recorder, allowing the two devices to be moved independently with respect to each other, an impossibility in commercially available equipment at the time. Long takes with ordinary equipment of the era would invariably lose synchronization. Albert built his own 16 mm camera with existing parts that could be comfortably balanced on his shoulder, eliminating

3154-546: The city Abu Dhabi . Christo and Jeanne-Claude announced plans for a future project, titled Over The River , to be constructed on the Arkansas River between Salida, Colorado , and Cañon City, Colorado , on the eastern slope of the Rocky mountains. Plans for the project call for horizontally suspending 10.8 km (6.7 mi) of reflective, translucent fabric panels high above the water, on steel cables anchored into

3237-590: The city's users to engage and interact with public spaces in new and memorable ways. David and Albert Maysles Albert Maysles (November 26, 1926 – March 5, 2015) and his brother David Maysles (January 10, 1931 – January 3, 1987; / ˈ m eɪ z ɛ l z / MAY -zelz ) were an American documentary filmmaking team known for their work in the Direct Cinema style. Their best-known films include Salesman (1969), Gimme Shelter (1970) and Grey Gardens (1975). The brothers were born in

3320-443: The coast of Sydney 's Little Bay as Wrapped Coast , the first piece for Kaldor Public Art Projects . Within a year of Wrapped Coast , Christo began work on Valley Curtain : an orange curtain of fabric to be hung across the mountainous Colorado State Highway 325 . They simultaneously worked on Wrapped Walk Ways (Tokyo and Holland) and Wrapped Island (South Pacific), neither of which came to fruition. The artists formed

3403-717: The country's fluid borders. During evacuations, he and his brothers stayed with a family in the rural hills outside town, where Christo connected with nature and handicraft. Christo pursued realistic painting through the mid-1950s, a period during which Western art was suppressed in Bulgaria. He was admitted into the Sofia Academy of Fine Arts in 1953 but found the school dull and stifling. Instead, he found inspiration in Skira art books, and visiting Russian professors who were older than him and once active in Russian modernism and

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3486-471: The creek became a specific goal to which I geared a bodily activity," with his two successful jumps being "dictated by a land form." Site specific environmental art was first described as a movement by architectural critic Catherine Howett and art critic Lucy Lippard . Emerging out of minimalism , site-specific art opposed the Modernist program of subtracting from the artwork all cues that interfere with

3569-661: The current location, which comprises a unique combination of physical elements: depth, length, weight, height, shape, walls, temperature. Works of art began to emerge from the walls of the museum and galleries ( Daniel Buren , Within and Beyond the Frame, John Weber Gallery, New York, 1973), were created specifically for the museum and galleries ( Michael Asher , untitled installation at Claire Copley Gallery, Los Angeles, 1974, Hans Haacke , Condensation Cube, 1963–65, Mierle Laderman Ukeles , Hartford Wash: Washing Tracks, Maintenance Outside, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, 1973), thus criticizing

3652-534: The difficulties of establishing an artist's reputation and the prejudices against female artists, but they would later retroactively credit their large-scale outdoor works to both "Christo and Jeanne-Claude". They eventually flew in separate planes such that, in case one crashed, the other could continue their work. The couple relocated to New York City, the new art world capital, in 1964. Christo began to make Store Fronts , wooden facades made to resemble shop windows, which he continued for four years. His largest piece

3735-478: The disastrous Altamont Free Concert , unexpectedly captured on film the altercation between Altamont attendee Meredith Hunter and Hells Angels member Alan Passaro that resulted in Hunter's death. Film footage shows Hunter drawing and pointing a revolver just before being stabbed by Passaro, who was later acquitted of Hunter's murder on self-defense grounds after the jury viewed the footage. Grey Gardens depicts

3818-440: The display of The London Mastaba , the nearby Serpentine Gallery presented an exhibition of the artists' work, entitled Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Barrels and The Mastaba 1958–2018 . The exhibition comprised sculptures, drawings, collages, scale-models and photographs from the last 60 years of the artists' work. Another Mastaba of over 400,000 oil barrels is intended to be built at Al Gharbia , 160 km (100 mi) from

3901-479: The fact that it is "art", Modernist art objects were transportable, nomadic, could only exist in the museum space and were the objects of the market and commodification. Since 1960 the artists were trying to find a way out of this situation, and thus drew attention to the site and the context around this site. The work of art was created in the site and could only exist and in such circumstances - it can not be moved or changed. The notion of "site" precisely references

3984-566: The film Gimme Shelter in The New Yorker included a harsh accusation that much of Gimme Shelter and Salesman had been staged and that the main subject of Salesman , Paul Brennan, was not a Bible salesman as the film portrayed, but was actually a roofing-and-siding salesman recruited as a professional actor. The Maysles brothers threatened legal action against The New Yorker after this accusation. They also sent an open letter to The New Yorker refuting Kael's claims; however, because

4067-486: The lives of a reclusive upper-class mother and daughter, "Big Edie" and "Little Edie" Beale (who were, respectively, the aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis ), residing in a derelict mansion in East Hampton , New York. In order to finance these films and others, the Maysleses also made commercials for clients such as IBM , Shell Oil and Merrill Lynch . The Maysleses' films are considered examples of

4150-444: The magazine at the time did not publish letters, the letter did not appear in print until 1996. In the case of Grey Gardens , the brothers were also accused of unfairly exploiting their subjects. Many of the Maysleses' documentaries focus on art, artists and musicians. The Maysleses documented The Beatles ' first visit to the United States in 1964, and a 1965 conceptual art project by Yoko Ono called "Cut Piece" in which she sat on

4233-527: The mainland to the islands of Monte Isola and San Paolo. The floating walkways were made of around 200,000 polyethene cubes covered with 70,000 m (750,000 sq ft) of bright yellow fabric: 3 km (1.9 mi) of piers moved on the water; another 1.5 km (0.93 mi) of golden fabric continued along the pedestrian streets in Sulzano and Peschiera Maraglio . After the exhibition, all components were to be removed and recycled. The installation

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4316-550: The museum as an institution that sets the rules for artists and viewers. Jean-Max Albert , created Sculptures Bachelard in Parc de la Villette related to the site, or Carlotta’s Smile , a trellis construction related to Ar. Co,’s architecture Lisbon , and to a choreography in collaboration with Michala Marcus and Carlos Zingaro , 1979. When the public debate over Tilted Arc (1981) resulted in its removal in 1989, its author Richard Serra reacted with what can be considered

4399-529: The need for a tripod, allowing him to shoot fluidly in the moment. He added a brace so he could hold the camera steady during long takes. He installed a mirror near the lens and a ring on the focus-pull and could then set the aperture and focus while the camera rolled, ensuring continuity during a take. Albert claimed to have a form of attention deficit disorder that made the leisurely pace of editing difficult for him but benefited him while shooting. Stating that his in-the-moment ability to focus let him, "Zero in on

4482-685: The pair met and married in Paris in the late 1950s. Originally working under Christo's name, they later credited their installations to both "Christo and Jeanne-Claude". Until his own death in 2020, Christo continued to plan and execute projects after Jeanne-Claude's death in 2009. Their work was typically large, visually impressive, and controversial, often taking years and sometimes decades of careful preparation – including technical solutions, political negotiation, permitting and environmental approval, hearings and public persuasion. The pair refused grants, scholarships, donations or public money, instead financing

4565-529: The park's formal garden walkways and jogging paths. Christo and Jeanne-Claude planned a project based on Jeanne-Claude's idea to surround eleven islands in Miami's Biscayne Bay with 603,850 m (6,499,800 sq ft) of pink polypropylene floating fabric. Surrounded Islands was completed on May 7, 1983, with the aid of 430 workers and could be admired for two weeks. The workers were outfitted with pink long sleeve shirts with pale blue text written on

4648-656: The place of women in art history. Christo and Jeanne-Claude's work is held by many major public collections. The artists received the 1995 Praemium Imperiale , the 2006 Vilcek Prize , and the 2004 International Sculpture Center 's Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award. Art critic David Bourdon described Christo's wrappings as a "revelation through concealment". Unto his critics Christo replied, "I am an artist, and I have to have courage ... Do you know that I don't have any artworks that exist? They all go away when they're finished. Only

4731-413: The preparatory drawings, and collages are left, giving my works an almost legendary character. I think it takes much greater courage to create things to be gone than to create things that will remain." Jeanne-Claude was a firm believer in the aesthetic beauty of works of art; she said, "'We want to create works of art of joy and beauty, which we will build because we believe it will be beautiful.'" In 2022,

4814-460: The project to "hanging pornography in a church." The U.S. Bureau of Land Management released a Record of Decision approving the project on November 7, 2011. Work on the project cannot begin, however, until the Bureau of Land Management issues a Notice to Proceed. A lawsuit against Colorado Parks and Wildlife was filed on July 22, 2011, by Rags Over the Arkansas River (ROAR), a local group opposed to

4897-554: The project. The lawsuit is still awaiting a court date. Christo and Jeanne-Claude's inspiration for Over the River came in 1985 as they were wrapping the Pont-Neuf and a fabric panel was being elevated over the Seine . The artists began a three-year search for appropriate locations in 1992, considering some eighty-nine river locations. They chose the Arkansas River because its banks were high enough that recreational rafters could enjoy

4980-630: The river at the same time. Christo and Jeanne-Claude spent more than $ 6 million on environmental studies, design engineering, and wind tunnel testing of fabrics. As with past projects, Over The River would be financed entirely by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, through the sale of Christo's preparatory drawings, collages, scale models, and early works of the 1950s/1960s. On July 16, 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management released its four-volume Draft Environmental Impact Statement, which reported many potentially serious types of adverse impact but also many proposed "mitigation" options. In January 2017, after

5063-438: The river's banks. Project plans called for its installation for two weeks during the summer of 2015, at the earliest, and for the river to remain open to recreation during the installation. Reaction among area residents was intense, with supporters hoping for a tourist boom and opponents fearing that the project would ruin the visual appeal of the landscape and inflict damage on the river ecosystem . One local rafting guide compared

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5146-470: The shape of a mastaba , a form of an early bench, as well as a style of tomb, in use in ancient Mesopotamia, with a flat roof and inward sloping sides. It sat on a floating platform of high-density polyethene , held in place by 32 anchors. It was 20 m (66 ft) in height and weighed 600 tonnes (660 short tons). The vertical ends were painted in a mosaic of red, blue and mauve, whilst the sloping sides were in red with bands of white. Simultaneously with

5229-766: The simultaneous setup of blue and gold umbrellas in Japan and California, respectively. The 3,100-umbrella project cost US$ 26 million and attracted three million visitors. Christo closed the exhibition early after a woman was killed by a windblown umbrella in California. Separately, a worker was killed during the deconstruction of the Japanese exhibit. Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped the Berlin Reichstag building in 1995 following 24 years of governmental lobbying across six Bundestag presidents. Wrapped Reichstag 's 100,000 square meters of silver fabric draped

5312-529: The stage of Carnegie Hall while audience members cut off her clothing with scissors. Several Maysles films document art projects by Christo and Jeanne-Claude over a three-decade period, from 1974 when Christo's Valley Curtain was nominated for an Academy Award , to 2005 when The Gates (started in 1979 and completed by Albert after David's death) headlined New York's Tribeca Film Festival . Other Maysles subjects include Marlon Brando , Truman Capote , Vladimir Horowitz and Seiji Ozawa . For many years,

5395-460: The struggles of a poor African-American family living in the contemporary Mississippi Delta , and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature; and The Love We Make (2011, co-directed with Bradley Kaplan) which documented Paul McCartney 's experiences in New York City following the September 11, 2001 attacks , and premiered on Showtime on September 10, 2011, the eve of

5478-502: The style known as direct cinema . The brothers would let the story unfold as the camera rolled, rather than planning what exactly they wanted to shoot, in keeping with Albert Maysles' stated approach, "Remember, as a documentarian you are an observer, an author but not a director, a discoverer, not a controller." However, the brothers also received criticism from those who thought that they had actually planned or otherwise influenced scenes. Most notably, Pauline Kael 's negative review of

5561-563: The tenth anniversary of the attacks. Albert continued the series of documentaries begun with David about the public art of Christo and Jeanne-Claude. He also contributed cinematography to Leon Gast 's Academy Award -winning documentary When We Were Kings , about the " Rumble in the Jungle " Muhammad Ali – George Foreman heavyweight championship boxing match. In 2005, Albert founded the Maysles Documentary Center,

5644-454: The time of his death, Albert had also been working on an autobiographical documentary Handheld and from the Heart . By letting real-life action unfold on camera without interference from the crew, the Maysleses pioneered the "fly on the wall" perspective in documentary cinema. This perspective is typical with the genre of documentary known as Direct Cinema which they helped pioneer. This genre

5727-472: The work of a group of door-to-door Bible salesmen in New England and Florida. Deeper down, the film is a dissection of the degenerative and devastating effects of capitalism on small towns and individuals, but more than any political statement the film is about normal people in all their ugliness and truthfulness. Gimme Shelter , a film about The Rolling Stones ' 1969 United States tour culminating in

5810-459: The work via the sale of their own artwork. Christo and Jeanne-Claude described the myriad elements that brought the projects to fruition as integral to the artwork itself, and said their projects contained no deeper meaning than their immediate aesthetic impact; their purpose being simply for joy, beauty, and new ways of seeing the familiar. Christo and Jeanne-Claude met in October 1958 when he

5893-610: The year they were allowed to proceed, having received permission from the newly elected mayor Michael R. Bloomberg . The Gates was open to the public from February 12–27, 2005. A total of 7,503 gates made of saffron-colored fabric were placed on paths in Central Park. They were five meters (16 ft) high and had a combined length of 37 km (23 mi). The mayor presented them with the Doris C. Freedman Award for public art. The project cost an estimated US$ 21 million, which

5976-507: Was born on June 13, 1935, in Gabrovo , Bulgaria , as the second of three sons to Tzveta Dimitrova, a Macedonian Bulgarian from Thessaloniki , and Vladimir Javacheff, who worked at a textile manufacturer. Christo was shy and had a predilection for art. He received private art instruction at a young age and the support of his parents, who invited visiting artists to their house. Christo was particularly affected by events from World War II and

6059-628: Was born, and Précilda remarried three times. Jeanne-Claude earned a baccalauréat in Latin and philosophy in 1952 from the University of Tunis . After Précilda married the General Jacques de Guillebon in 1947, the family lived in Bern (1948–1951) and Tunisia (1952–1957) before returning to Paris. Jeanne-Claude was described as "extroverted" and with natural organizational abilities. Her hair

6142-480: Was commissioned to paint a portrait of her mother, Précilda de Guillebon. Initially, Christo was attracted to Jeanne-Claude's half-sister, Joyce. Jeanne-Claude was engaged to Philippe Planchon. Shortly before her wedding, Jeanne-Claude became pregnant by Christo. Although she married Planchon, Jeanne-Claude left him immediately after their honeymoon. Christo and Jeanne-Claude's son, Cyril , was born on May 11, 1960. Site-specific art The term "site-specific art"

6225-460: Was commissioned to paint a portrait of her mother, Précilda de Guillebon. Their first show, in Cologne , 1961, showcased the three types of artworks for which they would be known: wrapped items, oil barrels, and ephemeral, large-scale works. Near Christo's first solo show in Paris, in 1962, the pair blocked an alley with 240 barrels for several hours in a piece called Iron Curtain , a poetic reply to

6308-412: Was conceived by Christo in 2010 (for the first time without his wife Jeanne-Claude). The sculpture was set up in the interior of the industrial monument and was made of 20,350 m (719,000 cu ft) of translucent fabric and 4,500 m (14,800 ft) of rope. In the inflated state, the envelope, with a weight of 5.3 tonnes (5.8 short tons), reached a height of more than 90 m (300 ft),

6391-583: Was dyed red, which she claimed was selected by her husband. She took responsibility for overseeing work crews and for raising funds. Jeanne-Claude died in New York City on November 18, 2009, from complications due to a brain aneurysm . Her body was to be donated to science, one of her final wishes. When she died, she and Christo were at work on Over the River and the United Arab Emirates project, The Mastaba . She said, "Artists don't retire. They die. That's all. When they stop being able to create art, they die." Christo and Jeanne-Claude met in October 1958 when he

6474-684: Was facilitated by the Beretta family, owners of the oldest active manufacturer of firearm components in the world and the primary sidearm supplier of the U.S. Army . The Beretta family owns the island of San Paolo, which was surrounded by Floating Piers walkways. The work was a success with the Italian public and critics as well. The London Mastaba was a temporary floating installation exhibited from June to September 2018 on The Serpentine in London . The installation consisted of 7,506 oil barrels, in

6557-534: Was involved in litigation with David's widow over the terms of a financial settlement. According to David's daughter Celia Maysles, this resulted in the family developing a "code of silence" regarding David. In 2007, Celia released a documentary about her father, Wild Blue Yonder , which included interviews with Albert. After his brother's death, Albert Maysles continued to make films. His notable works include LaLee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton (2001, co-directed with Deborah Dickson and Susan Froemke), which focused on

6640-516: Was postponed a year to Saturday, September 18 to Sunday, October 3, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in France and its impact on the arts and cultural sector worldwide . Following Christo's death, his office stated that the project would nevertheless be completed. Several articles in the press cut the name of Jeanne-Claude on their coverage of the event leading to a debate about the suppression of

6723-460: Was promoted and refined by Californian artist Robert Irwin but it was actually first used in the mid-1970s by young sculptors, such as Patricia Johanson , Dennis Oppenheim , and Athena Tacha , who had started executing public commissions for large urban sites. For Two Jumps for Dead Dog Creek (1970), Oppenheim attempted a series of standing jumps at a selected site in Idaho, where "the width of

6806-464: Was self-funded through sale of photographic documentation and preparatory works, as had become standard for the couple. Work began on the installation of the couple's most protracted project, The Gates , in New York City 's Central Park in January 2005. Its full title, The Gates, Central Park, New York, 1979–2005 , refers to the time elapsed between the year of the artists' initial proposal and

6889-553: Was shown in the 1968 Documenta 4 . In the mid-1960s, they also created Air Packages , inflated and wrapped research balloons. In 1969, at the invitation of the museum director Jan van der Marck they wrapped the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art while it remained open. It was panned by the public and ordered to be undone by the fire department, but the order went unenforced. With the help of Australian collector John Kaldor , Christo and Jeanne-Claude and 100 volunteers wrapped

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