Jeanne-Claude: 1935-2009

* REMEMBRANCES
* NOVEMBER 20, 2009

Part of a Creative Powerhouse Behind Ephemeral Artworks

By STEPHEN MILLER and KELLY CROW

With her husband, Christo, Jeanne-Claude was part of an inseparable artistic duo that produced some of the world's most well-known and monumental works of art.

Jeanne-Claude, who died Nov. 18 in New York City at age 74 after suffering a brain aneurysm, created landmark public displays using textiles, including the 18-foot-high, 24-mile-long "Running Fence" in California and "Surrounded Islands" in which the couple installed giant lily pad-like structures in Florida's Biscayne Bay with 6.4 million square feet of bright-pink fabric. Their 2005 creation, "The Gates," a series of 7,503 orange nylon panels erected for 16 days in New York's Central Park, drew crowds in the middle of winter.

One of their most notable works was the 1995 wrapping of the Reichstag, the seat of the German Parliament in Berlin, in silvery fabric, a project the couple had contemplated for more than two decades. The logistical headaches were so large, Jeanne-Claude once said, that it turned her husband's hair gray and hers red.

Forceful and outspoken, Jeanne-Claude was fond of telling interviewers that there were only three things the couple never did together: fly in an airplane (they took separate flights); make sketches (Christo's job); and manage their taxes (Jeanne-Claude's job). Adding to the vision of two artists merging their creativity was the fact they shared the same birthday.

Jeanne-Claude took the lead in raising funds for projects through the sale of Christo's sketches and other materials to collectors and museums. Such self-financing of large projects is rare in the art world, but the couple said they feared relying on sponsors would compromise their artistic freedom, said their longtime lawyer, Scott Hodes.

Jeanne-Claude avoided galleries, selling directly to collectors. When funds were scarce, she would offer prospective buyers a discount for cash upfront.

To finance a project, Jeanne-Claude told The Wall Street Journal in 1984, "I'll sell almost anything but our son."

Christo often said Jeanne-Claude's contributions to their work went beyond finance and logistics; the basic conception of "Surrounded Islands," he insisted, was hers.

Jeanne-Claude de Guillebon was born June 13, 1935, in Casablanca, Morocco, where her father was stationed as a general in the French military. She attended schools in France, Switzerland and Tunisia before moving to Paris. In 1958, she met Christo when he was commissioned to paint a portrait of Jeanne-Claude's mother. According to the couple's Web site, "By the time Christo had done an impressionist portrait, a classical portrait and a Cubist portrait of the mother, Christo and Jeanne-Claude were in love."

Soon, she was collaborating on works such as installations of large stacks of oil barrels in Cologne, Germany, and Paris. She personally took charge of wrapping a fountain and medieval tower in Spoleto, Italy, in 1968, at the same moment Christo wrapped an art museum in Bern, Switzerland.

Two years ago, the Smithsonian American Art Museum bought a trove of drawings and photographs documenting the "Running Fence" project that will be exhibited next spring as "Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Remembering the Running Fence."

George Gurney, the museum's deputy chief curator, said, "She couldn't draw, but she collaborated aesthetically on every other decision. It was always a joint endeavor."

The couple never flew together so that in the event of a crash the surviving partner could complete their projects, according to Mr. Hodes. Christo is determined to go ahead with "Over the River," a fabric roof over a six-mile stretch of a river in Colorado, Mr. Hodes said.