Christo’s dream unveiled: an Arc de Triomphe enveloped

In Paris this weekend, traffic stopped and crowds gathered to see the Arc de Triomphe transformed: the huge monument wrapped in shimmering fabric, tied in place with a red rope – the colors subtly mimicking the French flag.

It is the creation of the artist known simply as Christo. But when Christo passed away last year at age 84, completing the project became a mission for Christo’s small team of three: his nephews, Vladimir Yavachev and Jonathan Henery, and studio director Lorenza Giovanelli.

“The whole design has been done,” said Henery. “Every string, every fold, every fold is exactly, exactly and precisely the way Christo designed it. He will be his baby. We are finishing it for him.”

Giovanelli said: “I really don’t think Christo thought the Arc de Triomphe would be his last project.”

The packaging took a team of construction workers two months, following Christo’s precise plans – plans he actually started making almost 60 years ago.

In 1962, when he was a young artist in Paris, Christo made a photo montage of the Arc as it would look if he could wrap it. He arrived in Paris in 1958 after fleeing the Communist regime in his native Bulgaria. Henery said: “For Christo, coming of course from a communist country, his freedom was extremely important all his life. And if you have a temporary work of art, which you pay for yourself, that’s completely your idea, you had to fight tooth and nail to get permission, you own this work of art. “

But Christo’s first ambitions for a different kind of art had to wait. Even struggling artists have to eat.

“He supported himself by painting portraits of women,” said his friend, art historian Annie Cohen-Solal. She said that this is how Christo met Jeanne-Claude: “Jeanne-Claude’s mother said: ‘Why don’t you do the portrait of my daughter’, which was extremely beautiful. And so, Christo l ‘did, and then he fell in love with her and stole her from her husband. She got married recently. So it’s a very romantic story. “

“He’s a unique artist,” Jeanne-Claude told CBS News in 1976. “There are a few, maybe a couple of times a century, and he’s one of them, and I am very proud to help him. ”

More than a married couple, Christo and Jeanne-Claude have become an artistic team, their creations considered as much as hers as hers, with an intensity to match hers.

“Each of our projects is like one of our children,” she said.

Their work seemed to question the very definition of art. Even for the best reporters who have struggled for years to describe their work, there was always the question: Is Christo even an artist? It’s a struggle we saw while watching some of the early stories from CBS News:

By Dan Rather in 1983: “Christo, the alleged artist …”

Roger Mudd in 1976: “The artist Christo, who launches out in the global approach of sculpture, does that again …”

Richard Roth in 1991: “This is the biggest venture ever carried out by the Bulgarian-born showman known as Christo, the original packaging artist in the world. “

Mark Phillips in 1995: “With all of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s work, there is always the question of whether it is art or just an artistic event.”

Martha Teichner in 1995, on the site of the packed Reichstag in Berlin: “So, is this a work of art or a sumptuous vanity?”

Steve Kroft in 1983, reporting The Wrapped Islands: “It’s art, anything… not something that fits the sofa, but an idea.

And Richard Wagner, in 1976: “What its creator calls the current fence, and he calls it art. Critics call it the longest clothesline in the world, and they call it a fraud.

But in 2005, when Christo and Jeanne-Claude premiered The Gates in New York City’s Central Park, the answer seemed to be, yes, this is art.

“It is a work of art on a titanic scale,” said Correspondent “60 Minutes” Morley Safer. “Take a look: this is a sight that will be gone in just 14 days. “

Like the Gates, all of their large-scale projects lasted only two or three weeks, and all were fully paid for by Christo and Jeanne-Claude themselves through the sale of his designs.

“All of our projects revolve around freedom,” Christo told “60 Minutes”. “Nobody can buy this project. Nobody owns their project. Nobody can charge tickets for this project. It will be there for a few days, then it will be gone.”

“We are no different from all other artists who create art,” said Jeanne-Claude. “It’s sold, the artist gets the money. With the money, the artists buy what they want. We do exactly the same. Only what we like is to buy 5,000 tonnes. of steel, 60 miles of vinyl poles! ”

Jeanne-Claude died in 2009. Seven years later, Christo carried out his first major project without her: the floating jetties on Lake Iseo in Italy.

Annie Cohen-Solal said, “One and a half million people were able to walk on water, thanks to Christo. It was free. They could enjoy this magic for free.”

And now in Paris, people can experience the Arc de Triomphe wrapped up for free – but only for 16 days.

Blackstone asked, “” Is it really art if it no longer exists? “

“Art is memory, joy, experience,” Cohen-Solal replied.

Lorenza Giovanelli said: “That’s the beauty of these projects – the fact that they are temporary, because they are unique, and you feel you have to take advantage of it because you know it will be gone in a few weeks. “

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Story produced by George Osterkamp. Editors: Ben McCormick and Ed Givnish.