However, these later projects are included in the suitable companion publication Christo and Jeanne-Claude in the Vogel Collection, which serves as the catalog for an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art this spring. Curator Donovan does an exemplary job of setting works from the gallery's Vogel collection in the context of the couple's entire oeuvre. The catalog (one of the largest to cover the full career of the artists) includes color photographs of their works, interviews with the artists, reproductions of plans and drawings, an extensive exhibition chronology, and a bibliography. Both books are recommended for larger collections of contemporary art. Martin R. Kalfatovic, Smithsonian Inst. Libs., Washington, DC

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The true nature of the artistic partnership behind the remarkable environmental art works credited solely to Christo until 1994 is dramatically parsed in Burt Chernow's excellent dual biography, Christo and Jeanne-Claude [BKL F 15 02], and now Donovan, a curator at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., provides a handsomely illustrated volume that documents and interprets the unprecedented achievements of this immensely creative and adventurous duo. The galvanizing private collection of Dorothy and Herbert Vogel (now part of the National Gallery of Art) is the book's wellspring, an extensive gathering of more than 30 years' worth of vibrant drawings and prismatic photographs that document the Christo team's spectacular and provocative projects. The first colorplate is a shimmering close-up of the fabric used to make the glorious Valley Curtain, constructed in Colorado in 1971-72. This launches a series of high-resolution swathes of various "wrapping" fabrics that effectively punctuates this altogether vivid mix of art and biographical and aesthetic discussion, which includes a scintillating interview with the already legendary Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Donna Seaman

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