Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Brian O'Doherty

"The dynamic partnership of Christo and Jeanne-Claude spans more than four decades, and their enormous outdoor art installations are known the world over ... from 1972 to 1976, Christo and Jeanne-Claude conceived, planned, and created the Running Fence, an eighteen-foot-high white nylon fence that stretched more than twenty-four miles across Marin and Sonoma counties in northern California. ... It was a landmark event in contemporary art. [book title] revisits the ephemeral splendor of this remarkable outdoor installation and celebrates the Smithsonian American Art Museum's recent acquisition of the complete documentation exhibition for Running Fence, Sonoma and Marin Counties, California, 1972-1976, an archive of more than 350 individual items, including fifty original preparatory works by Christo, a sixty-eight-foot-long scale model, more than 240 documentary photographs by Wolfgang...