Arcana:

(CHRISTO). Javacheff, Christo, David Bourdon, Jonathan Fineberg, Janet Mulholland & Cyril Christo. Photographs by Wolfgang Volz. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1986. First Edition. Stout 4to. Cloth in Pictorial Dust Jacket. Artist Monograph. Near Fine/No Jacket - As Issued. 696pp, profusely illustrated in color and b&w. "During an extraordinary two-week period in May 1983, a spectacular, singularly beautiful apparition occurred in Florida's Biscayne Bay: Several small islands, densely covered with luxuriant foliage, were completely encircled by a two hundred foot wideband of bright pink fabric that floated on the placid blue water like vivid aureoles around cool oases of greenery. This exotic archipelago of pink-ringed land masses was an artwork entitled "Surrounded Islands", one of the most ambitious projects conceived and realized by the Bulgarian-born, American artist Christo, who is internationally renowned for audacious, large-scale works". Published in 1986, this massive tome is part of Christo and his partner Jeanne-Claude's ongoing series of comprehensive publications designed and edited by the artists with photographic documentation by Wolfgang Volz that reproduces hundreds of photos, plans, sketches, and correspondence covering every stage of the "Surrounded Islands" work from inception to aftermath. A most handsome example of the first and only Harry N. Abrams, Inc. printing in the publisher's pictorial slipcase with a swatch of the synthetic pink fabric bound in, as issued, additionally bearing the BOLDLY SIGNED AND DATED INSCRIPTION "For Henry / Christo / N.Y. 1986" in the year of publication in red ink on the half title page showing just the slightest bit of sunning along the cloth spine of the book itself. The noted late museum director, art historian, and gallerist Henry T. Hopkins - from whom we acquired this directly prior to his passing - was the director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art when he included Christo in his curation of SFMoMA's 1980 exhibition of contemporary American art entitled "Twenty American Artists". 0-8109-0790-9 Inventory Number: 025941