Event 2016 - Fondation Maeght

Event 2016
Christo and Jeanne-Claude at the Maeght Foundation
4 June - 27 November
From June 4th to November 27th 2016, Christo will create a sculpture of a monumental mastaba that will redefine the
scale of the Giacometti courtyard and, more generally, the architecture and gardens designed by Josep Lluίs Sert.
Christo in his studio with a preparatory drawing
for the Mastaba of Abu Dhabi in 2012.
The Mastaba, Project for the Maeght Foundation,
Saint-Paul de Vence, 2015.
The Mastaba at the Maeght Foundation will be 9 meters high, 17 meters long and 9 meters wide. The spectator will
experience a dramatic confrontation with the sculpture, first with its form and color and then with the work’s
rhythms, space, and duration. For nearly 50 years, Christo and Jeanne-Claude have dreamed of this
confrontation. The story of this dream is rich with meaning and reveals an artistic history marked by continuity and
tenacity with projects they have developed over many decades. Conceived by the artists in the late 1960’s, the
idea for the Maeght Mastaba project can be seen on display in two early preparatory works by Christo. Since its
inception, the artwork has been extensively reworked and revisited.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude were first shown at the Maeght Foundation in 1985 with an exhibition on the artists’
temporary artwork, the Surrounded Islands, Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida 1980-1983. In this new exhibition,
Christo has chosen to focus on another aspect of their artwork – their work dealing with oil barrels. What started as
sculptures of barrel structures grew into projects such as Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s 1962 work Wall of Oil
Barrels, barrel installations in different urban environments and the monumental Mastaba, intended for the desert
in Abu Dhabi.
Wall of Oil Barrels –
The Iron Curtain,
Rue Visconti, Paris, 1961-62.
Projet d’intervention dans la cour de la Fondation :
595 tonneaux métalliques,
1967-1968.
Projet d’intervention dans la cour
de la Fondation : 520 tonneaux
métalliques, 1967-1968.
Fondation Maeght. Exhibition Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Page 1 sur 3.
The sculptures, installations, preparatory works, scale models, photographs, and films on exhibit will trace several
decades of their work, from Christo’s early works to his preparatory works for Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Mastaba
of Abu Dhabi. Christo’s 1958 sculptures, Wrapped Cans, seem to hint at Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s future and
much larger indoor and outdoor oil barrel structures, creations that engage in and reveal aspects of city life. The
locations, dimensions and colors of these barrel sculptures also exhibit the artists’ incredible will to intervene in the
urban, industrial and natural spaces of society.
Wrapped Can, 1958.
Wrapped Can (Group of seven), 1958.
This artistic confrontation can be seen in Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s 1962 work, Wall of Oil Barrels, a wall
constructed with oil barrels that blocked off the Rue Visconti in Paris. Having fled the oppressions of communist
Bulgaria, the Wall, which transformed the space, could be seen to signify Christo’s response to the Berlin Wall. This
work and Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s future barrel sculptures would redefine public spaces and seem to give off
an enigmatic sense of a meeting of the contemporary world and its tools with the poetry and symbolism of the
past.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude tell us the truth about the industrial world, all while diverting it, disturbing it and
stimulating our freedoms of observation and interpretation. By confrontation or concealment, they expressly choose
the places where they “assign” new meaning.
The Wall - Project for Gasometer,
Oberhausen, Germany, 1998-99.
The Wall - 13,000 Oil Barrels, Gasometer.
Oberhausen, Germany, 1998-99.
The Mastaba, Projet pour Abu Dhabi,
Emirats Arabes Unis (détail), 1979.
Considering this context, the Mastaba seems to ask questions about the sacred and about power; it seems to
address the poetics of space just as much as it considers the physicality of materials. During the exhibition, a room
will be dedicated to the radical project, the Mastaba of Abu Dhabi, and the exhibit will culminate in the
presentation of the Mastaba in the Giacometti courtyard at the Maeght Foundation. This Mastaba, in conversation
with Sert’s architecture as well as with the beauty of the sky, the pine trees and the natural environment, will be a
part of a presentation that promises to be a unique experience.
Fondation Maeght. Exhibition Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Page 2 sur 3.
About the Maeght Foundation
The Marguerite and Aimé Maeght Foundation is one of the major international
institutions dedicated to innovation and creation. This private foundation of modern
and contemporary art is located near the town of Saint-Paul de Vence, 25 km from
Nice. The Maeght Foundation owns one of the largest collections of paintings,
sculptures and graphic works of the twentieth century in Europe. It organizes major
thematic exhibitions such as the 2013 summer exhibition dedicated to painting and
philosophy as well as retrospectives (Giacometti in 2010, Chillida in 2011, Gasiorowski in
2012, Josep Lluís Sert in 2014, Immendorff in 2015) and exhibitions of today's creators
(Erik Dietman in 2011 Fabrice Hyber in 2012, Gloria Friedmann and Djamel Tatah in
2013, Gérard Garouste in summer 2015, Richard Deacon, Sui Jianguo and Henk Visch
in 2016).
The gardens of the Maeght
Foundation in Saint-Paul de Vence.
Open all year, the Maeght Foundation welcomes 200,000 visitors a year in a unique
architectural complex designed by Josep Lluís Sert to present modern and
contemporary art in all its forms. Painters and sculptors have collaborated with the
Catalan architect by creating works integrated into the building and in nature: the
Giacometti courtyard, the Miró labyrinth filled with sculptures and ceramics, the mural
mosaics of Chagall and Tal Coat, Braque's pool and stained glass window, the Bury
fountain. The complex blends interior and exterior space with the sculpture garden,
courtyards, terraces and patios, showrooms, chapel, library and bookstore.
Inaugurated on 28 July 1964 the Foundation was born from the friendship of Aimé
Maeght, art dealer and gallery owner in Paris , with the great names of modern art
including Joan Miró, Alexander Calder, Fernand Leger, Braque, Alberto Giacometti,
Marc Chagall and Eduardo Chillida. A recognized public service, it is intended to
receive, acquire, restore, preserve and exhibit artwork to the public and give artists the
opportunity to meet and work together. As André Malraux and the founders declared
on the day of its opening, the Maeght Foundation's mission is to devote itself to
creators and creation.
Today the Maeght family with the help of the Conseil d’Administration continues and
maintains this spirit. Adrien Maeght chairs the Board of Directors of the Foundation that
brings together personalities, representatives of state and national museums and
members of the Maeght family. Olivier Kaeppelin is the director.
Calendar 2016
26 March - 16 May
Espace, Espaces !
4 June - 27 November
Christo
10 Dec. - 26 March 2017
Pascal Pinaud
In 2016, thanks to the artists it exhibits, the Maeght Foundation will question space as a
place of transformation. "Art is the creator of an unconventional space, a space in
constant motion”, explains Olivier Kaeppelin, its director. "Through the works
themselves, and through the relationships that develop between the works, the artist
offers a new space that he tries to inhabit and which he offers to share with us. This
transformation, whether it is near or foreign to us, concerns us all. This interpretation
concerns the body, architecture, existence and the forms around us. With lines and
colors, art makes us forget objects lost to a use or function. Art does not produce
objects but spaces and forms.”
Captions and credit visuals
Christo dans son atelier avec un dessin préparatoire pour le Mastaba d’Abu Dhabi en 2012.Photo Wolfgang Volz. © Christo 2012 // The Mastaba, Project for the Fondation
Maeght, St-Paul. Dessin 2015 : 66.7 x 77.5 cm. Crayon, crayon gras, peinture émaillée et crayon de cire. Photo André Grossmann © Christo 2015 // Christo et Jeanne-Claude,
Wall of Oil Barrels - The Iron Curtain, Rue Visconti, Paris, 1961-62. Photo Jean-Dominique Lajoux. © Christo 1962 // Projet d’intervention dans la cour de la Fondation : 595
tonneaux métalliques. Collage 1967-1968 : 56 x 71 cm. Photographies collées, gouache, crayons de couleur et crayon de papier sur carton. Photo Roland Michaud - Archives
Fondation Maeght. © Christo 1968 // Projet d’intervention dans la cour de la Fondation : 520 tonneaux métalliques. Collage 1967-1968 : 71 x 56 cm. Photographies collées,
gouache, crayons de couleur et crayon de papier sur carton. Photo Roland Michaud - Archives Fondation Maeght. © Christo 1968 // Wrapped Can, 1958. Deux canettes dont
une empaquetée, tissu, corde, peinture laquée, 25 x 10,5 cm chacune. Photo Wolfgang Volz. © Christo 1958 // Wrapped Can (Group of seven), 1958. Ensemble de sept canettes,
corde, toile et peinture laquée, 2 empaquetées de 12,5 x 10,5 cm chacune, 4 noires de 12 x 10 cm chacune et 1 de 12,5 x 10,5 cm. Photo Eeva-Inkeri. © Christo 1958 // The
Wall – Project for Gasometer, Oberhausen, Germany. Dessin 1998-99 : dessin en deux parties : 165 x 244 cm ; 106,6 x 244 cm. Crayon, peinture émaillée, crayon de cire, pastel,
fusain et données techniques. Photo André Grossmann. © Christo 1999 // The Wall 13 000 Oil Barrels wall in the Gasometer Oberhausen, Germany.1999. Photographie en
couleurs de Wolfgang Volz. 150 x 100 cm. Photo Wolfgang Volz. © Christo 1999 // The Mastaba, Project for the United Arab Emirates (détail). Collage photo 1979 : 56 x 35.5 cm.
Crayon et 2 photos de Wollfgang Volz. Photo André Grossman. © Christo 1979 // Les jardins de la Fondation Maeght. © Photo JJ L’Héritier Archives Fondation Maeght.
Fondation Maeght. Exhibition Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Page 3 sur 3.