Famed artist who wrapped KC park in ‘saffron’ gifts works to Nelson-Atkins
Long before the shuttlecocks landed at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art — and before, even, Henry Moore’s sculptures beautified its lawn — another Kansas City park, for a brief two weeks, captured the eyes of art lovers worldwide.
It was Jacob Loose Park in October 1978 when famed Bulgarian artist Christo, who died in May 2020, took nearly three miles of saffron yellow nylon and “wrapped” the park’s sidewalks with the flowing material, turning the park into his canvas.
Christo transformed Kansas City park
As is often the case with art, spectators at the time both loved and loathed it.
“A bunch of junk,” one woman said then.
“Joyful and fun — and beautiful,” said another of a project that, now — like his wrapping of the Arc de Triomphe, or Germany’s Reichstag building, or his surrounding islands in Miami with fabric — is a part of his life’s legacy.
.jpg "HighRes_1978_WalkWays_email (3).jpg")
On Thursday, the Nelson announced that it has a received a gift of 18 major works by Christo, along with permits, correspondence, engineering plans, a documentary film reel, as well as 35 Wolfgang Volz photographs of the Loose Park project in advance of its 50th anniversary in 2028.
Gift materials to go on Nelson display
A selection of the materials, donated by the The Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation — named for the late artist and his collaborator and wife who died in 2009 — are to go on display at the Nelson in a preview exhibit from June 29 to Jan. 18, 2026.
.jpg "HighRes_1978_KansasCity_email (1).jpg")
“While this project lasted a handful of days, it had a permanent impact on those who experienced it,” said Julián Zugazagoitia, the Nelson’s director and chief executive officer. “Visitors were compelled to experience what art meant to them and should mean to others. It also united a devoted group of disparate community members who passionately contributed to this display.”
The artist was brought to Kansas City by the city’s local Contemporary Art Society, which underwrote the work. Estimated to cost $40,000, it would ultimately cost $130,000. Close to 100 volunteer crew members helped affix the fabric along the park’s walkways with some 35,000 steel spikes.
Stephanie Fox Knappe, the Nelson’s curator of global modern and contemporary art, said in a statement that Christo’s piece “helped put Kansas City on the contemporary art world map” in 1978.
“Although Christo and Jeanne-Claude conceived their monumental ‘Wrapped Walk Ways’ project as temporary, its legacy lives on through this generous gift,” she said. “Not only does it commemorate an unexpected and engaging temporary intervention in one of our city’s most beautiful parks. . . but it also celebrates the lasting friendships between the artists and those who collaborated with them — some of whom are now core supporters of the Nelson-Atkins.”
Those include Kansas City developer John Hoffman, and his spouse, Sharon. They are major art collectors and supporters. Both were volunteers on the Christo project in 1978, the Nelson said, and “were instrumental in obtaining this generous gift from the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation.”
The Christo announcement is the second by the Nelson in recent weeks. In April the museum announced the choice of New York-based Weiss/Manfredi/Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism to lead the construction of major addition to the museum at an estimated cost between $160 million to $170 million.
A construction start date has yet to be announced.
This story was originally published May 8, 2025 at 1:29 PM.
