“The Gates” in Central Park.

"Photos by Hal Drucker"

A My Kind of Holiday Exclusive By Hal Drucker

They came, they saw, they concurred. From every state in the union, from Europe and Asia, people were oohing and ahhing over Christo and Jeanne-Claude's billowy gift to New York.

Mayor Bloomberg at the press opening of The Gates at the Temple of Dendur, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Friday, Feb. 11, 2005.		Mayor Bloomberg introduces Christo and Jeanne-Claude at the press opening.

When my wife and I ventured through Central Park, Saturday morning, February 12, 2005, we were among the first to view the unfurled streams of orange saffron from the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. At ground level, we were struck by the buzz and camaraderie among visitors and New Yorkers. The sense of good fellowship and womanship was akin to that of the three or four blackouts I've experienced in my adulthood. The difference was, that there was no disruption in the momentum of the city.

The Gates at 72nd St., prior to unfurling.		View from the Metropolitan Museum Roof Garden, 10 a.m.,  Saturday, Feb. 12, 2005.

From February 12 through February 27, 2005 “A work of art was enjoyed by all thousands of visitors and New Yorkers, for free.” The words belong to Jeanne-Claude, the distaff part of the famed husband-and-wife team of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, with whom I had an exclusive interview prior to the press preview on February 11 of the couple’s The Gates in the Temple of Dendur at The Met.

Strolling under The Gates at 60th Street North.		Lake View from Central Park South

Was it art? If your senses are aroused by this true reality show, and if beauty is truth and vice-versa, by Keats’ definition, it was - in my judgment- art.

Lake View West.		A great day to be in a hansom cab.

“People can stroll under The Gates on 23 miles of walkway,” said Jeanne-Claude, “anywhere from 110th Street to 59th Street and from Fifth Avenue to Central Park West.” The artists endeavored to create what they regarded to be – “a visual golden river appearing and disappearing through the bare branches of the trees, highlighting the shapes of the footpaths.”

View toward Central Park South		View from tower apartment of Ian Reisner, Central Park South.

More than a quarter-century in the vision, creation and the fruition, and thanks to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s green-lighting, this was undeniably one of the signal events for New Yorkers and out-of-towners in the 150-year history of Frederic Olmstead’s Central Park. In our lifetime, it may have been rivaled only by the Park’s Simon & Garfunkle concert of 1982 in its sheer cultural impact. Christo and Jeanne-Claude, with 800 workers on their payroll, erected 7,500 colored vinyl “gates” spaced at about 12-foot intervals; free-hanging, saffron-colored fabric panels that waved horizontally toward the next gate, highlighting the design of the Park’s winding paths. The Gates measured 16 feet high with the fabric furling down seven feet from the ground. Widths varied from 5 ½ to 18 feet. Not only did the enterprise not cost New York taxpayers a dime — “we pay all expenses and accept no sponsors,” noted Jean-Claude — but the City’s Economic Development Corporation estimated the project generated more that $80 million in revenue for New York in a typically “down” month for arts and entertainment. In 1995, Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped Berlin’s Reichstag in a silvery fabric that highlighted the features and proportions of the building.

	Photo submitted by reader Herb Hennas, showing the Plaza Hotel in the background, with The Gates conforming to the contours of hill and lake

The Gates in Snow. Feb. 25. Pathway to Bethesda Fountain		Bethesda Fountain
Boat Pond facing Fifth Avenue		Boat Pond North

In concluding the interview, Jeanne-Claude said, “Tell your readers we’ve lived 41 years at the same address in Downtown Manhattan. On June 13, we will become 140 years old. We were born the same day, at the same hour, June 13, 1935 – but thank God, of two different mothers.”