Picture "Wrapped Reichstag (Project for Berlin) - Platz der Republik, Spree" (1994) (Unique piece)
Picture "Wrapped Reichstag (Project for Berlin) - Platz der Republik, Spree" (1994) (Unique piece)
Quick info
unique piece | signed | dated | titled | inscribed | mixed media | framed | size 28.5 x 36 cm
Detailed description
Picture "Wrapped Reichstag (Project for Berlin) - Platz der Republik, Spree" (1994) (Unique piece)
In 1971, when Christo and Jeanne-Claude began preparations for the "Wrapped Reichstag" project, it seemed entirely unrealistic that the former German parliament building, inaugurated in 1894, would ever regain its original function - despite this hope being expressed frequently.
Today, the Reichstag stands more than ever as a symbol of the meeting of East and West, past and future. Situated on an expansive, open site, it evokes unusual, even metaphysical associations, deeply tied to the building’s eventful history since the 19th century:
It was set on fire in 1933, almost completely destroyed in 1945 and rebuilt in the 1960s. The Reichstag has been subject to constant change and upheaval but has always remained a symbol of democracy.
Next year marks the 30th anniversary of the spectacular wrapping of this iconic building - an event in 1995 that captivated around five million people. The present work dates from 1994 and is one of the few nocturnal drafts for the project. Its acquisition represents a valuable piece of art and history.
Pencil, wax crayon, enamel paint, biros, photograph by Wolfgang Volz, and adhesive tape on brown cardboard, mounted on wood, 1994. Signed, dated, titled and inscribed "© Christo 1994" on the back. The work is listed in the archive of the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation. Motif size/sheet size 27.7 x 35.5 cm. Size in frame 28.5 x 36 cm as shown.
Producer: ARTES Kunsthandelsgesellschaft mbH, Bödekerstraße 13, 30161 Hannover, Deutschland E-Mail: info@kunsthaus-artes.de
About Christo
1935-2020
Christo achieved world fame by extraordinarily wrapping large landmarks and landscape elements in fabric.
Christo Vladimirov Javacheff was born 13 June 1935 in Gabrovo, Bulgaria, to a son of an industrialist family. From 1953 to 1956, he studied at the Sofia Academy of Fine Arts and visited Prague in 1956. The following year, Christo attended the Vienna Fine Arts Academy. In 1958, he went to Paris where he first began to wrap things – this was the beginning of the "wrapped objects".
Starting in 1961, Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude (1935-2009) have caused a worldwide sensation with their spectacular wrapping projects. Especially the project "Wrapped Reichstag", which was planned from 1971, became an art event in 1995.
The work for the installation of the project "The Gates, Central Park, New York, 1979–2005" began in 2005.
A total of 7,532 gates, each 4.87 m high and up to 5.48 m wide, were placed over a length of 37km all over the pathways in Central Park. The gates, made of saffron-coloured fabric floated down from the horizontal end of the steel gates to 2.13 m above the ground, creating a flowing, billowing incomparable spectacle. Only 16 days later the installation was set to close. But what remains is the memory of a lost landscape.
Christo strictly refused sponsorship from the public or private sector and insisted that the projects be realised only for a limited period. This leads to an extraordinary concept: Only the sale of the sketches, models, and drawings made the realisation of the installations possible, and only these documents ultimately bear witness to it. Therefore, a Christo is a work of art in its own right, but also a building block of something larger – and not least a testimony to the creative process.
Christo passed away in 2020.
Graphic artwork in the making of which the artist combines at least two graphic production techniques.
A one-of-a-kind or unique piece is a work of art personally created by the artist. It exists only once due to the type of production (oil painting, watercolour, drawing, lost-wax sculpture etc.).
In addition to the classic unique pieces, there are also the so-called "serial unique pieces". They present a series of works with the same colour, motif and technique, manually prepared by the same artist. The serial unique pieces are rooted in "serial art", a genre of modern art that aims to create an aesthetic effect through series, repetitions, and variations of the same objects or themes or a system of constant and variable elements or principles.
The historical starting point is considered to be Claude Monet's "Les Meules" (1890/1891), where, for the first time, a series was created that went beyond a mere group of works. The other artists, who addressed to the serial art, include Claude Monet, Piet Mondrian and above all Gerhard Richter.