Christo and Jeanne-Claude: On the Way to The Gates, Central Park, New York City (Metropolitan Museum of Art Series) [Paperback]

Jonathan Fineberg (Author), Wolfgang Volz (Photographer)

Book Description

Series: Metropolitan Museum of Art Series | Publication Date: June 28, 2005

Christo and Jeanne-Claude are renowned for their dramatic and innovative public projects. Their installations often feature fabric—sometimes wrapped around existing structures or used to create large-scale temporary environments. Some of their most influential projects include Running Fence in Sonoma and Marin Counties, California, Surrounded Islands in Miami, the Pont Neuf Wrapped in Paris, the Wrapped Reichstag in Berlin, and The Umbrellas simultaneously in Japan and California. Now New York City, where they have lived and worked for forty years, will be the site for a much-anticipated Christo and Jeanne-Claude project. The Gates will consist of saffron-colored fabric panels suspended from the horizontal tops of over 7,500 sixteen-foot-tall vinyl gates, positioned at regular intervals throughout 23 miles of walkways of Central Park. The installation will be on view for sixteen days, beginning February 12, 2005 (weather permitting).
This book, published in conjunction with a major exhibition that opens in April 2004 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, celebrates the culmination of the artists’ vision for The Gates, a project that began in 1979. It includes an illustrated introduction by Jonathan Fineberg that surveys the career of Christo and Jeanne-Claude and assesses their contribution to contemporary art and culture. The heart of the book consists of beautiful reproductions of the various preparatory collages and drawings that Christo has created for The Gates project, many of which have not been previously published, and detailed documentation of the personalities and events that have led up to the project. This volume also features four highly engaging, unpublished interviews conducted by Fineberg with the artists, from the 1970s to a recent interview in July 2003.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the artists responsible for such memorable wrapped pieces as "Surrounded Islands" (bright pink fabric floating around 11 islands in Biscayne Bay in Florida), and "Running Fence" (2.3 million square feet of fabric stretching down to the ocean in Sonoma and Marin counties in California), have been planning a major piece in New York City since they arrived in 1964. Unfortunately, their ideas, which included wrapping the Museum of Modern Art, were continually stymied both by private owners and the city. In near-giddy anticipation, this book from art historian Fineberg (The Innocent Eye) offers 50 b&w and 160 lush color illustrations, meticulously and compellingly contextualized, of the 7,500 saffron-colored vinyl panels they plan to suspend along the walkways of New York's Central Park in February 2005. First conceived in 1979, it will be the pair's first completed New York project. The catalogue, which accompanies an exhibition of the artists' work at the Metropolitan Museum, is almost a sociological text in how public art gets made—or, more often, not made. Four interviews ranging from 1979 to 2003, photographs of meetings with city officials and community boards, extensive biographical and critical background, as well as plans, maps, beautiful drawings of the Gates and photographs of their construction expose poignantly how grand artistic ideas are transformed by the long trek toward realization. In one interview, Christo says, "One of the lowest objections was that I am a communist spy and the Fence will be used as intercontinental missile targets."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"well illustrated and handsomely produced" Victoria Keller, The Art Book"

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (June 28, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300104057
• ISBN-13: 978-0300104059
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 11.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,041,233 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book, June 11, 2011

By 

Erin T Kelly (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Christo and Jeanne-Claude: On the Way to The Gates, Central Park, New York City (Metropolitan Museum of Art Series) (Paperback)

the book was exactly what we were looking for, it was a little more beat up than we had anticipated, but the content and colored pictures are fantastic!

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterpiece of Public Art, March 25, 2005

By 

Richard Coeur de Lion "Free Man In Paris" (BOSTON, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Christo and Jeanne-Claude: On the Way to The Gates, Central Park, New York City (Hardcover)

The Central Park Gates Project will be remembered as the first great public art installation of the 21st century. Christo's gift to New York City was immersive, democratic and profoundly spiritual. If you want to understand the thought, passion and effort that went into this masterpiece, then this is the book for you.

3 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Book is awesome and so was the project., March 29, 2005

By 

Bill "RebelFag68" (New Orleans, LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Christo and Jeanne-Claude: On the Way to The Gates, Central Park, New York City (Hardcover)

The Gates was too cool. As with all art, it is subjective. One person might consider junk, is anothers treasure. The Gates was a sight to see. We went on a trip to NY to see them. TOO COOL! The book is great.