- Flowers of the Unicorn Tapestry
September 9, 2012
- A Road Less Taken
August 12, 2012
- The Luck of the Unicorns
September 8, 2010
And here is a published article (in the Botanical Artists of Canada Newsletter) where I discuss the flowers and plants in the Unicorn Tapestries:
- Botanical Art and the Decorative Arts
Botanical Artists of Canada Newsletter
Summer 2007
Pp3-4
This time, I wanted to take better photographs of the New Jersey Palisades, and of the exterior of the museum. Also, there is a special exhibition on the 75th anniversary of the Cloisters, which a special emphasis on the items (documents and objects) relating to the Unicorn.
Here is a description of the exhibition:
Given by John D. Rockefeller Jr. in time for the opening of The Cloisters in 1938, the Unicorn Tapestries are its best-known masterpieces; yet, seventy-five years later, their history and meaning remain elusive. They have been seen both as complicated metaphors for Christ and as emblems of matrimony, and they are beloved as quaint indications of medieval notions about the natural world. This exhibition of some forty works of art drawn from the collections of the Metropolitan, sister institutions, and private collections invites audiences to see the Unicorn Tapestries anew, as the finest expression of a subject widely treated across cultures, and in both European art and science, from the Middle Ages, through the Renaissance.I will post more on the exhibition, and the notes I took, in an upcoming posting.
The Cloisters are not very far from New York. The city's M4 bus goes there, traveling through the Bronx to get there in about a 45-minute ride. The bus goes through the Bronx, with some beautiful wrought iron balconies and fire escapes on old New York buildings. (The friend I write about is Larry Auster, who was a constant companion during my recent visits in New York). I wrote about the buildings and the iron work here in New York Fire Escapes.
Below are the photographs I took during this trip. The Cloisters, only a short distance from New York City, feel like another place, far away both geographically and spiritually. Magical is another word I would use to describe them, and their location.
I have posted my photographs from my last trip at the Cloisters in August 2012 at the end of the 2013 photographs.
Cloisters entrance
[Photo by KPA, August 2013]
View of the George Washington Bridge from the Cloisters
[Photo by KPA, August 2013]
View of The New Jersey Palisades from the Cloisters
[Photo by KPA, August 2013]
The New Jersey Palisades (above), which were protected through land claims by Rockefeller, are now battling to prevent high rise constructions.
An information pamphlet, An American Landmark is at Risk, was provided at the museum. There is a link at www.protectThePalisades.org for online information.
Garden in the Cloisters
Discussed in: Garden Guide: New York City pp. 33-37
Cloisters Flowers
[Photo by KPA, August 2012]
Standing Virgin and Child
Attributed to Nikolaus Gerhaert van Leiden
(North Netherlandish, active in Strasbourg, 1460–1473)
Date: ca. 1470
Medium: Boxwood, tinted lips and eyes
Dimensions: 13 1/4 x 5 1/8 x 3 9/16 in.
[Photo by KPA, August 2012]
Periwinkles in the Cloisters
Discussed in Garden Guide: New York City pp. 33-37
Periwinkle Label:
Common Periwinkle, Myrtle
Vinca minor
[Photo by KPA, August 2012]
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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