SERPENTINE CELEBRATES THE LEGACY OF CHRISTO AND JEANNE-CLAUDE
On 9th October, Christo’s original drawing of The Mastaba (Project for London, Hyde Park, Serpentine Lake), 2018, will be on view to the public in The Magazine at Serpentine North.
The presentation of this artwork will be accompanied by the launch of The Christo Interviews, a collection of ten conversations between Christo and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director of Serpentine. The book, published by HENI, celebrates the artists who are best known for their large-scale, site-specific installations.
Christo (1935–2020) and Jeanne-Claude (1935–2009) are among the world’s most celebrated artists. Known for their ambitious artworks that altered both the physical form and visual appearance of sites for a short period of time, before returning environments to their original states.
From June 18 to September 23, 2018, Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s temporary sculpture, The London Mastaba, sat atop Hyde Park’s Serpentine Lake. The piece, which consisted of 7,506 horizontally stacked barrels on a floating platform, was the artists’ first major public outdoor project to be completed in the UK. It coincided with an exhibition at Serpentine detailing their 60-year history of working with oil barrels and accompanied by a digital mobile tour supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
The drawing on view, created by Christo just before the realisation of The London Mastaba, stands out as one of the few large format pieces featuring a view of the Serpentine Bridge. It serves as an indelible recollection of the public artwork, capturing a pivotal moment in Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s artistic journey, and preserving it for future generations.
Edited in close collaboration with the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation, the new hardback book is fully illustrated with images of finished works, drawings and archival photographs from throughout the duo’s long and successful career.
