Christo

The Umbrellas, Japan–USA, 1984–91

Short Review

The only work created by Christo and Jeanne-Claude in two countries at the same time (the United States and Japan), it was intended to emphasize the similarities and differences (in the way of life and in the way of relating to the landscape) of two nations so far away. The installation of the 3,100 umbrellas began simultaneously on October 9, 1991, in Ibaraki (Japan) and near the Tejon Pass in California, about 100 kilometers north of Los Angeles. The manufacture of the umbrellas (all made in Bakersfield, California) began in 1990: they were large artifacts six meters high, with a diameter of more than eight meters, which remained installed for two weeks. For this installation, Christo and Jeanne-Claude did not accept sponsorships, preferring to raise the 26 million dollars necessary for the realization with the sole sale of drawings and projects. "In the precious and limited space of Japan," reads the presentation of the work, "umbrellas were placed intimately, close to each other and sometimes positioned so that they followed the geometry of the rice fields. In the lush vegetation watered by water all year round, the umbrellas were blue. In the vastness of California's uncultivated pasture land, the configuration of umbrellas was bizarre and spread in every direction. The Maroni hills were covered with blonde grass. In that dry landscape, the umbrellas were yellow."