
In his early twenties, Christo made his way from Bulgaria to Paris, and eventually settled in the United States in 1964. His journey took him from a communist society hidden behind the Iron Curtain to the democratic West, where he began creating ambiguous images of freedom and constraint. The abstracted contours of Christo’s package tempt viewers with unseen contents. Its muffled forms might suggest something or someone fighting against very tight control. This work anticipates the monumental public projects he would later create with his wife, Jeanne-Claude (1935−−2009), in which they swathed entire architectural structures in fabric, including The Pont Neuf Wrapped in Paris (1975−−85) and Wrapped Reischstag in Berlin (1971−−95).
- Title
-
Package 1961
- Artist
- Date
- 1961
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 29 x 24 3⁄4 x 8 in. (73.7 x 62.9 x 20.3 cm)
- Copyright
-
© 1961, Christo
- Credit Line
-
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
- Mediums Description
- fabric and rope on wood
- Classifications
- Keywords
-
- Object – other – container
- Object Number
-
2000.30
- Palette
- Linked Open Data
- Linked Open Data URI