Christo & Jean-Claude.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park – Sculpture and Projects 1961-96. [SIGNED by Christo and Jean-Claude].

Yorkshire, Exhibition Supported by the Henry Moore Foundation, 1997. Oblong Small-Quarto (21 cm wide x 15 cm high). 36 pages with illustrations (some in beautiful colour). Softcover / Original spiral bound. Unusually excellent condition with only minor signs of wear. Extremely rare now with the beautiful signatures of these two landmark-artists of the 20th century.

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, 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 the work via the sale of their own artwork. Christo stated in 2018, “I studied Karl Marx in school and, though I may be anti-corporation, I am not anti-capitalist – in fact, we work closely with banks; Citibank, Credit Suisse, so many others.”

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’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 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.’” (Wikipedia)

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The Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) is an art gallery, with both open-air and indoor exhibition spaces, in West Bretton, Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, England. It shows work by British and international artists, including Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. The sculpture park occupies the 500-acre (200-hectare) parkland of Bretton Hall.

The Yorkshire Sculpture Park, opened in 1977, was the UK’s first sculpture park based on the temporary open air exhibitions organised in London parks from the 1940s to 1970s by the Arts Council and London County Council (and later Greater London Council). The ‘gallery without walls’ has a changing exhibition programme, rather than permanent display as seen in other UK sculpture parks such as Grizedale Forest.

YSP has a number of settings where its collection is displayed.

Parkland:

The park is situated in the grounds of Bretton Hall, an 18th-century estate which was a family home until the mid-20th century when it became Bretton Hall College. Follies, landscape features and architectural structures from the 18th century can be seen around the park including the deer park and deer shelter (recently converted by American sculptor James Turrell into an installation), an ice house, and a camellia house. Artists working at YSP, such as Andy Goldsworthy in 2007, take their inspiration from its architectural, historical or natural environment.

Since the 1990s, YSP has made use of indoor exhibition spaces, initially a Bothy Gallery (in the curved Bothy Wall) and a temporary tent-like structure called the Pavilion Gallery. After an extensive refurbishment and expansion, YSP has added an underground gallery space in the Bothy garden, and exhibition spaces at Longside (the hillside facing the original park). Its programme consists of contemporary and modern sculpture (from Rodin and Bourdelle through to living artists). British sculpture is well represented in the past exhibition programme and semi-permanent installations. Many British sculptors prominent in the 1950s and 1960s have been the subject of solo exhibitions at YSP, including Lynn Chadwick, Austin Wright, Phillip King, Eduardo Paolozzi, Hans Josephsohn, and Kenneth Armitage. Exhibitions tend to be monographic – rather than group or thematic.

The redundant Grade II* listed St Bartholomew’s Chapel, West Bretton built by William Wentworth in 1744 has been restored as gallery space.

Longside Gallery:

Longside Gallery is a space for sculpture overlooking YSP. The gallery is shared with the Arts Council Collection for an alternating programme of exhibitions. Between exhibitions, Longside Gallery is used for educational and outreach activities and events.

The Weston:

In July 2019, the new visitor centre, housing a gallery, restaurant and shop, made the shortlist for the Stirling Prize for excellence in architecture. (Wikipedia)

• Keywords: Art · Art – Rare · Art of the 20th Century · Catalogue Four – International Art · Catalogue No.10 – International Literature · Christo & Jean-Claude · Illustrated Books · Illustrated Books Rare · Modern Art · Signed
• Language: Español
• Inventory Number: 32129AB

EUR 1.280,--