Christo created a series of relief-like surface textures starting in 1958 with his works entitled Surfaces d’Empaquetage. These were pieces of fabric or paper, mostly crumpled and crushed, that Christo folded and covered with several thin layers of dark brown lacquer.

Discontinuities and disruptions of the surface exposing the material beneath still testify to the vehemence of the production process. In addition, sand particles in the lacquer and the crumpled surface give a weathered impression of the kind that was to become characteristic of Christo’s earliest packagings.

With their impasto surfaces, these works already testify clearly to Christo’s basic avant-garde attitude. What he found fascinating in the work of his contemporaries was the often aggressive integration of substances alien to art. All the works of art that aroused his interest had one thing in common: a rich, tactile surface.

Excerpt from the book Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Early Works 1958-64 by Matthias Koddenberg (Bönen: Kettler, 2009). Edited by the author in 2011.

Virtual Tour

Click here to take a Virtual Tour of the exhibition Early Works 1958-69 on view at the Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany, 2001. To return, click on the signature on top of the page.