(Gabrovo, Bulgaria 1935–2020 New York)
Running Fence (Project for Sonoma County and Marin County, State of California) - Estero Road, 1975, signed, dated Christo 1975, fabric, pencil, charcoal, crayon, gouache and technical data collage on board, 55.5 x 70.5 cm, framed under plexiglass

This work is registered in the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Archives, New York.

We are grateful to Jonathan Henery, Christo and Jeanne-Claude Archives, New York, for his scientific support in cataloguing the work.

Provenance:
Studio of the artist
Joan Sonnabend, Obelisk Gallery Massachusetts, 1975
Villa Grisebach, Berlin, 29 November 2008
Private collection, Germany

The installation Running Fence, which was installed in 1976 and lasted for 14 days, is considered one of the most impor¬tant early works by the famous artist duo Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Standing 5.5m tall and stretching over 39km across Sonoma County and Marin County in California. The white fabric billowed in the wind, reflecting light at a variety of angles and shades, cre¬ating dazzling, shimmering contours that cut across the landscape in soft yet sharp lines. The sheer beauty of the play of light and weather on the fence contrasted sharply with the theme of separation and boundary that fences generally convey. According to the artists, a fence embodies a larger theme of human freedom and limitation.

All costs of the project were covered with the sale of studies, preparatory drawings and collages, scale models and original lithographs. The artwork being auctioned off is an original drawing which was created in this process.