The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 20, 2024
Wrapped Chair
1961
(American, 1935–2020)
Overall: 90 x 42.5 x 44 cm (35 7/16 x 16 3/4 x 17 5/16 in.)
© Christo
Location: not on view
Did You Know?
Christo and his partner, Jeanne-Claude, are known for their monumental wrapping of public buildings and sites using techniques seen in this chair.Description
This sculpture is one of the earliest examples of Christo's signature style. His technique first incorporated the wrapping of everyday objects, including cans and bottles, stacks of magazines, furniture, and even an automobile, but led to the wrapping of public buildings and entire outdoor parks. This work uses a chair from the Paris apartment of Christo and his wife and partner, Jeanne-Claude. The use of drapery and concealment adds a layer of mystery to the chair's otherwise straightforward meaning. Christo was among a group of artists in France in the late 1950s who rebelled against the previous generation's fascination with abstraction. These nouveaux réalistes (new realists) chose to use real objects, rather than try to represent the items using other media. They preferred an art that was physical and tangible. Christo took this art one step further by "cloaking" reality, transforming and abstracting it.- Jeanne-Claude Christo, New York.
- Cleveland Museum of Art, “Art Museum Acquires Three Works of Art by Christo Christo & Jeanne-Claude to Give Lecture at CMA,” April 24, 1996, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.orgDonley, Gregory, M., "Hide and Seek", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 46 no. 05, May/June 2006 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 14 archive.org
- Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Early Works, 1958-69. Martin Gropius Bau (September 8-December 30, 2001).Martin Gropius Bau Museum, Berlin; September 8-December 30, 2001. "Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Early Works, 1958-69," exh. cat. no. 73, p. 59.
- {{cite web|title=Wrapped Chair|url=false|author=Christo|year=1961|access-date=20 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1996.29