{{short description|1976 art installation by Christo and Jeanne-Claude}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox artwork | title = Running Fence | image_file = RunningFence1.JPG | image_size = 300px | alt = | other_language_1 = | other_title_1 = | type = Installation art | artist = Christo and Jeanne-Claude | year = {{Start date|1976|09|10}} | catalogue = | height_metric = | width_metric = | height_imperial = | width_imperial = | condition = | city = | museum = | coordinates = {{Coord|38|19|4|N|122|55|28|W|region:US-CA_type:landmark_dim:25km|display=title}}<!-- Only use for the exact coordinates of the artwork itself (and only where known) and not for the coordinates of the museum. Leave blank if coordinates are not known. --> | owner = | accession = | url = }}
'''''Running Fence''''' was an installation art piece by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, which was completed in California on September 10, 1976. The art installation was first conceived in 1972, but the actual project took more than four years to plan and build.<ref name="nga" /> After it was installed, the builders removed it 14 days later, leaving no visible trace behind.<ref name="christo">{{cite web |url = http://christojeanneclaude.net/rf.shtml |title = Running Fence |accessdate = 2008-01-31 |url-status = dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20090126044050/http://christojeanneclaude.net/rf.shtml |archivedate = 2009-01-26 }}</ref>
== Installation == The art installation consisted of a veiled fence {{convert|24.5|mi|km|1}} long extending across the hills of Sonoma and Marin counties in northern California, United States. The {{convert|18|ft|m|1|adj=on}} high fence was made of 200,000 square meters (2,222,222 square feet) of heavy woven white nylon fabric, which created 2,050 panels, and was hung from steel cables by means of 350,000 hooks. The cables were supported by 2,050 steel poles (each: 6.4 meters / 21 feet long or 9 centimeters / 3.5 inches in diameter) embedded 1 meter (3 feet) into the ground, braced by steel guy wires (145 kilometers / 90 miles of steel cable), 14,000 earth anchors, and without any concrete.<ref name="christo"/>
The route of the fence began near U.S. Highway 101 and crossed 14 roads and the private property of 59 ranchers to reach the Pacific Ocean south of Bodega Bay. The fence entered the Pacific Ocean at a point about midway between the Estero Americano and the Estero de San Antonio, in northwestern Marin County.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Environmental Science Associates |url=http://archive.org/details/runningfencedraf00envi |title=Running fence : draft environmental impact report : prepared under contract to the Sonoma County Planning Department, Santa Rosa, California |last2=Sonoma County (Calif.). Planning Dept |date=1975 |publisher=Foster City, Calif. : Environmental Science Associates |others=Smithsonian Libraries}}</ref> The art project required 42 months of collaborative efforts, 18 public hearings, 3 sessions at the Superior Courts of California, and the drafting of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR); the required EIR for the piece was 450 pages long.<ref name="christo"/>
All expenses for the temporary work of art were paid by Christo and Jeanne-Claude through the sale of studies, preparatory drawings and collages, scale models and original lithographs.<ref name="christo" />
Originally conceived in 1972 as ''Curtains for West Berlin'' to block the view of the Berlin Wall,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Christo |url=https://livesretold.co.uk/christo |access-date=2023-10-21 |website=LIVES RETOLD |language=en-US}}</ref> the project relocated to rural Sonoma and Marin Counties just south of the historic Russian settlements of Fort Ross and Port Rumyantsev at Bodega Bay in the Mexican bulwark of Rancho Americano. It is also said to have been partly inspired by fences demarcating the Continental Divide in Colorado.<ref name="nga">{{cite web|url=http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2002/christo/fence.shtm|title=Christo and Jeanne-Claude|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080306133606/http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2002/christo/fence.shtm|archivedate=2008-03-06|accessdate=2008-01-31}}</ref> Christo emphasized that he considered Running Fence to encompass its social, legal, and technical dimensions.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chamberlain |first=Colby |date=2017-04-01 |title=THE POLITICS OF CHRISTO AND JEANNE-CLAUDE’S RUNNING FENCE |url=https://www.artforum.com/columns/the-politics-of-christo-and-jeanne-claudes-running-fence-233313/ |access-date=2023-10-21 |website=Artforum |language=en-US}}</ref>
An alternative location at Harmony, California for a 24.5 mile fence installation was scouted by Jeanne-Claude and Christo in 1973.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Running Fence, Sonoma and Marin Counties, California, 1972-76 {{!}} Smithsonian American Art Museum |url=https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/running-fence-sonoma-and-marin-counties-california-1972-76-77978 |access-date=2024-05-27 |website=americanart.si.edu |language=en}}</ref>
==Legacy== The piece is commemorated by historic markers at Watson School near Bodega, California<ref name="scrpd">{{Cite web|title="Watson School Historic Park"|url=http://www.sonoma-county.org/parks/pk_watsn.htm|accessdate=2008-01-31}}</ref> and at State Route 1 in Valley Ford, California. In December 1976, the County Landmarks Commission, County of Sonoma designated the Valley Ford site (pole #7-33) as History Landmark #24.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.overtheriverinfo.com/index.php/about-the-artists/prizes-awards/|title=Over The River: Prizes and Awards|accessdate=2010-10-11}}</ref>
The largest remaining intact and continuous section of the ''Running Fence'' hangs below the ceiling of the Rio Theater in Monte Rio, California.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://guerneville.towns.pressdemocrat.com/2013/05/02/over-the-top-the-rio-achieves-its-goal/ |title=Rio Theater owners optimistic about its Kickstarter campaign helping it stay alive |accessdate=2013-05-04}}</ref>
Between April 1, 2010 through September 25, 2010, ''Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Remembering the Running Fence'' was on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/christo|title=Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Remembering the Running Fence|website=Smithsonian American Art Museum|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-01}}</ref> The exhibition comprised over 350 archival and related works and photographs, and visitors could touch the actual nylon fabric panels and steel poles from the original work of art.<ref name=":0" />
The Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa has a permanent exhibit on Christo featuring a portion of fabric from the Running Fence. Schulz's Peanuts comic strip featured Christo's art and the Running Fence in 1978.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Yazel |first=Faith |date=2020-07-01 |title=In Memory of the Artist, Christo |url=https://schulzmuseum.org/in-memory-of-the-artist-christo/ |access-date=2023-10-21 |website=Charles M. Schulz Museum |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Documentary== The piece was the subject of a 1978 documentary film ''Running Fence'' by Albert and David Maysles.<ref name="imdb">{{cite web |title=Running Fence (1978) |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0220741/ |accessdate=2008-01-31}}</ref><ref name="Story">Malin, Janet {{cite news |title = 'Running Fence' Films Story of an Art Event:The Program |newspaper = The New York Times|date = April 11, 1978|url = https://www.nytimes.com/1978/04/11/archives/running-fence-films-story-of-an-art-eventthe-program.html |accessdate= September 20, 2018 }}</ref> The film includes scenes showing the local response to the project, which ranged from excitement to resentment and active protest. Several Californians including Expressionist painter Byron Randall protested the piece on the grounds of both land infringement and lack of artistic merit; however others appreciated the beauty of the work and in the end the project was completed.<ref>Chernow, Burt; Volz, Wolfgang (2002). ''Christo and Jeanne-Claude''. p. 240. NY: St. Martin's Press.</ref><ref>Vogels, Jonathan B. (2010). ''The Direct Cinema of David and Albert Maysles''. pp.111-123. SIU Press.</ref><ref name="Story"/>
==Gallery== <gallery mode="packed" heights="150" style="text-align:left"> File:Running Fence Watson School sign.jpg|Sign at Watson School File:ChristoMarker3185.jpg|One of two commemorative markers in Valley Ford, California File:Running Fence map with notes.jpg|The Running Fence's 24.5 mile course with Russian, Mexican, and American historic features noted. </gallery>
==See also== *Site-specific art *Land art *Public art *List of Sonoma County Regional Parks facilities *Sonoma County Historic Landmarks and Districts
==References== {{Reflist}}
== Further reading ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite news |last1=Chamberlain |first1=Colby |title=Colby Chamberlain on the politics of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Running Fence |work=Artforum |volume=55 |issue=8 |date=April 2017 |url=https://www.artforum.com/print/201704/the-politics-of-christo-and-jeanne-claude-s-running-fence-67188 |language=en-US |issn=0004-3532 |df=mdy-all }} * {{Cite journal |last1=Kaplan |first1=Helaine |title=Wrapping the Coast with Christo's 'Running Fence' |journal=Landscape Architecture |volume=67 |issue=1 |pages=56–61 |date=1977 |issn=0023-8031 |jstor=44666469 |df=mdy-all }} * {{Cite web |last1=Tomkins |first1=Calvin |title=A Tribute to Christo’s Unforgettable Art Works |work=The New Yorker |date=2020-06-02 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/postscript/a-tribute-to-christos-unforgettable-art-works |language=en |accessdate=2020-06-03 |df=mdy-all }}
{{refend}}
==External links== {{commons category}} *[http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/projects/running-fence Christo and Jeanne-Claude: ''Running Fence''] *[http://guerneville.towns.pressdemocrat.com/2013/01/19/rio-theater-attempts-to-kickstart-its-jump-into-the-21st-century/cristo_ceiling400/ Photo of ''Running Fence'' section in Rio Theater auditorium] *[http://www.pressdemocrat.com/gallery/4649655-181/christo-and-jean-claudes-running-fence Gallery of 24 historic photos from the ''Santa Rosa Press-Democrat'' newspaper archives] *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NcEl0TSyj4 50th Anniversary of the 1972 beginning of Christo's ''Running Fence'' project - Panel Discussion]
{{Christo and Jeanne-Claude}} {{Albert and David Maysles}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Running Fence}} Category:1976 sculptures Category:Art in the San Francisco Bay Area Category:Fabric sculptures Category:History of Marin County, California Category:History of Sonoma County, California Category:History of the San Francisco Bay Area Category:Installation art works Category:Outdoor sculptures in California Category:Parks in Sonoma County, California Category:West Marin Category:Works by Christo and Jeanne-Claude