Christo

(Bulgarian-American, 1935-2020)

Wrapped Walk Ways, Project for Jacob L. Loose Park, Kansas City, Missouri, 1978

Photograph with enamel paint, crayon, pencil, bic, tape

15" x 9 1/2"

The mixed media work consists of a photograph of Loose Park by Wolfgang Volz collaged to paper with tape, overpainted by Christo, with the artist's hand-written notes and overlay of gridlines. Signed and dated to the lower right. From the collection of Virginia McCoy, acquired from Morgan Art Gallery in 1978. Exhibited at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in the exhibition Christo: Wrapped Walk Ways, Work in Progress, September-November 1978.

In 1969, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the husband-and-wife duo behind environmental installations of monumental scale, visited Southeast Asia and Japan. In their travels, they recognized in those cultures a mindfulness of one's self within natural spaces, and the care with which people walked through gardens and parks. Soon, they conceived of a new project: Wrapped Walk Ways. After unsuccessful bids to proceed with the project in Tokyo and Dublin, the artists finally realized their ambitious vision in 1978, covering 2.8 miles of paths in Kansas City's Loose Park with a bright saffron nylon.

"The fabric makes everything much more silent, the surface is changing continuously," commented Christo, in a 1978 documentary on the work by director Michael Blackwood. "The folds change as you pass-- with your footsteps, with the wind, with the light-- and all that makes you aware of each step a new way."

Wrapped Walk Ways found the artists already well established and at the height of their powers as pioneers in large-scale Land Art: the decade preceding included their major works Wrapped Coast (Sydney, 1969), Valley Curtain (Colorado, 1972), and Ocean Front (Rhode Island, 1974). Perhaps the closest relative of Wrapped Walk Ways in Christo and Jeanne-Claude's oeuvre was a work realized much later: The Gates (New York, 2005). As they had done with Kansas City's Loose Park, the couple adorned the paths of Central Park with bright saffron fabric (this time in the form of free-flowing gates), elevating the everyday experience of park-goers with the invitation to consider and interact with the art as they wander.

As is true of each of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's gigantic outdoor works, the Wrapped Walk Ways were temporary by design, an environmental art project that was installed and allowed to transform for two weeks before being removed. The vestiges of these significant and memorable projects are the artists' preparatory models, drawings, and collages, created and sold to fund the projects without any assistance from sponsorship. This work is a rare and wonderful example.

Very good condition, noting craquelure to the surface of the photo print, visible under raking light. Some mat burn to the paper from the reverse.