The Cloisters
The Cloisters (German: The Cloisters) is a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City . It is located in Fort Tryon Park near the northern tip of Manhattan on a hill above the Hudson River . The Cloisters was built using architectural fragments mostly from French monasteries and houses part of the Metropolitan Museum's collection of medieval art.
history
The idea for a museum of medieval art in New York City goes back to the sculptor and art collector George Gray Barnard (1863–1938). In addition to numerous works of art, he had also collected architectural fragments from several French monasteries. These included Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa , Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert , Bonnefont-en-Comminges in the Haute-Garonne department , Trie-en-Baise in the Hautes-Pyrénées department ; the three Gothic triple arcades from Froville in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department were only added by a donation from George Blumenthal in 1935. Barnard opened a private museum on Fort Washington Avenue, which he initially called the Gothic Collection before renaming it The Cloisters . This collection came into the possession of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1925 after John D. Rockefeller, Jr. donated $ 600,000 for it. As early as 1917, he had acquired the site of today's Fort Tryon Park and made the building site available for today's museum. He also acquired larger areas of land on the opposite side of the Hudson River so that the view of the undeveloped landscape could be preserved. This area called the New Jersey Palisades is now a nature reserve within the Palisades Interstate Park .
building
When the Barnard Collection was opened on May 4, 1926, it was clear to those in charge of the Metropolitan Museum of Art that their headquarters on Fifth Avenue would not have sufficient and suitable space to adequately display the numerous works of art and architectural elements. The architect Charles Collens (1873-1956) was commissioned to build a new building in Fort Tryon Park. The building complex, which was started in 1934, incorporates original components from European monasteries and is based on the plans of the medieval models. So it is not a reconstruction of a monastery that ever actually existed, but an attempt to recreate an appearance that is as true to the original as possible. The equipment of the facility with several cloisters at the same time is to be assigned to the museum use and not corresponding to the European original facilities. The well-tended gardens have also been laid out true to the original on the basis of various medieval documents. Joseph Breck (1885–1933), curator and deputy director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and James Rorimer (1905–1966), who later became museum director, were responsible for the content design of the galleries with works from the Romanesque (approx 1150) to Gothic (approx. 1150 to 1520). On May 10, 1938, The Cloisters opened at its current location.
In 1961 an entire apse was recovered from the ruins of the Romanesque St. Martin's Church in the Spanish village of Fuentiduena north of Madrid , transported to New York with its 3000 limestone blocks and attached to The Cloisters (other information: 30,000).
Collections
About half of the collection of medieval art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art can be seen at The Cloisters , while the other part is shown in the main building. Although the earliest works of art in the Cloisters date from around the year 800, the focus of the collections is on exhibits from the 12th to the 15th centuries. In addition to the original columns from various cloisters of French monasteries, such as the one from Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert , European arcades, vaults, windows, portals and fountains have been permanently installed in The Cloisters . Other exhibits include stained glass, metalwork, manuscripts, enamel work , paintings, ivory carvings, tapestries and other textiles.
Outstanding works of art in The Cloisters are the Mérode triptych by the Master of Flémalle from the workshop of Robert Campin , an intercession of Jesus and Mary ascribed to Lorenzo Monaco and a Romanesque altar cross called the "Cloisters Cross" or "Covering Cross". Seven Flemish tapestries are from the Rockefeller collection, depicting "the hunt for the unicorn". The important medieval manuscripts and illuminated books in the Cloister's collections also include Les Belles Heures du Duc de Berry by the Limburg brothers and Jean Pucelles' Book of Hours for Johanna von Evreux .
There are also German works of art in the Cloisters . In addition to a few works by Tilman Riemenschneider , the so-called Boppard Room has six window panels built between 1440 and 1446 in the Cologne area for the Carmelite Church in Boppard .
Other works from Europe come from the chapel of Ebreichsdorf Castle in Lower Austria, from the parish church of St. Leonhard in Lavanttal in Carinthia, from the Chapelle de Reugny in Auvergne and a sculpture of the Virgin Mary from the 13th century from the Strasbourg cathedral .
Quote
John D. Rockefeller once formulated the function that this monastery in Manhattan should fulfill as follows: “When those who are overwhelmed by the magic of this place and have let themselves be taken by its peace, tranquility and beauty, with strengthened courage and with If hope broke again, [...] then the work of its builders was not in vain. ”So the leading capitalist of the western world wanted to do something against the nationwide depression that had developed after the stock market crash in 1929.
Exhibited works of art
Master of Flémalle : Mérode triptych , central panel:
Annunciation
Brothers of Limburg :
Les Belles Heures du Duc de Berry
Lorenzo Monaco :
Intercession of Jesus and Mary
15th century
south. Netherlands:
The hunt of the unicorn
Lower half of the cloister window from the Boppard Carmelite Church
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literature
- Peter Barnet, Nancy Wu: The Cloisters. Medieval Art and Architecture. Metropolitan Museum of Art et al., New York NY 2006 ISBN 0-300-11142-8 .
- Adolfo Salvatore Cavallo: The Unicorn Tapestries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Metropolitan Museum of Art et al., New York NY 2005, ISBN 0-300-10630-0 .
- Elizabeth C. Parker, Charles T. Little: The Cloisters Cross. Its kind and meaning. Metropolitan Museum of Art et al., New York NY 1994, ISBN 1-872501-90-7 .
- James Rorimer : Mediaeval Monuments at the Cloisters as They Were and as They Are . The Plantin Press, New York 1941.
- James Rorimer: The Unicorn Tapestries at the Cloisters, a Picture Book . Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1946.
- Bonnie Young: A Walk Through the Cloisters. 12th printing. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York NY 2004, ISBN 0-300-10784-6 .
The Cloisters is one of the main locations in the novel Tell the Wolves I'm at Home ( Carol Rifka Blunt, ISBN 978-3961610075 ), which is set in New York in the 1980s .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Brooks, Lester / Brooks, Patricia / Farewell, Susan: New York 1993. Munich 1997, p. 236
- ↑ Achim Machwirth: The Carmel at Boppard on the Rhine. The stained glass of the Carmelite Church . Ed .: Verkehrs- und Verschönerungsverein Boppard 1872 eV Boppard 2012, p. 41-50 .
- ↑ femundo.de: Right in the heart. November 28, 2018, accessed January 15, 2019 .
Coordinates: 40 ° 51 '53 " N , 73 ° 55' 55" W.