Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Barrels and The Mastaba 1958-2018

The London Mastaba was a temporary sculpture by Christo and Jeanne-Claudes in 2018, inspired by mastabas of Mesopotamia. It was made of 7,506 painted oil barrels and anchored to the Serpentine Lake. The sculpture was a precursor to the duo's work in progress, The Mastaba (Project for Abu Dhabi), which would be their greatest achievement and only permanent large-scale work. The book "The London Mastaba" showcases their 60-year history of barrel artworks.

Format: Hardback
Length: 208 pages
Publication date: 13 July 2018
Publisher: Taschen GmbH

In 2018, London's Hyde Park hosted the latest installation by Christo and Jeanne-Claude titled "The Mastaba (Project for London, Hyde Park, Serpentine Lake)." This temporary sculpture drew inspiration from the ancient mastabas of Mesopotamia, which were mud benches with two vertical sides, two slanted sides, and a flat top. Standing at an impressive height of 20 meters, the 600 metric tons of this waterborne project were anchored to the Serpentine Lake, resulting in a captivating floating mosaic of red, white, blue, and mauve. Regarded as the most ambitious barrel work to date by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, "The London Mastaba" serves as a precursor to their ongoing project, "The Mastaba (Project for Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates)." Conceived in 1977, "The Mastaba for Abu Dhabi" holds the potential to become the duo's greatest achievement and their sole permanent large-scale work. Sited in the desert, the sculpture would encompass 410,000 multicolored barrels, towering at a height of 150 meters, surpassing the Great Pyramid of Giza in grandeur. Designed by Lorenza Giovanelli and Christo, this book offers a comprehensive retrospective of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's 60-year history of barrel artworks, featuring drawings, collages, technical data, scale models, and photographs by Wolfgang Volz, many of which are published for the first time.

Weight: 1860g
Dimension: 296 x 278 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783836573450