christo and jean claude

Creative Coupling

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Keren

In preparation for Valentine’s Day…

Georgia O’Keeffe photographed by Alfred Stieglitz – c. 1918

Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keeffe. Painter Georgia O’Keeffe and photographer Alfred Stieglitz wrote each other letters — sometimes two and three a day, some of them 40 pages long. When Stieglitz and O’Keeffe met in 1916, he was 52 and famous — an internationally acclaimed photographer, with an avant-garde gallery in Manhattan. She, on the other hand, was 28 and unknown. Stieglitz believed in O’Keeffe’s paintings during a time when his contemporaries called her “talentless” and “derivative”. Love is supporting your other half’s ideals. More about the couple and the book on NPR.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude: lovers, collaborators, and artists. Both born 1935. Christo is an American, Bulgarian-born man by the name Christo Vladimirov Javacheff and raised in a Bulgarian industrialist family. Jeanne-Claude is an American, French-born woman by the name Jeanne-Claude Marie Denat. Raised in Casablanca by a French military family, educated in France and Switzerland. Died November 18, 2009, New York City. They explain “All of Christo and Jeanne–Claude’s projects come from ideas from their two hearts, and two brains.” It seems the most important artist’s tool for the two are their hearts. More beautiful photos of the couple through the years, and their projects, on their website.

Christo and Jean-Claude, Wrapped Trees, 1997-1998

Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner. During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety. He was regarded as a mostly reclusive artist. He had a volatile personality, and struggled with alcoholism for most of his life. In 1945, he married the artist Lee Krasner (her all-over-painting technique is not to be ignored!), who became an important influence on his career and on his legacy. Pollock died at the age of 44 in an alcohol-related car accident. Home and Estate Above.