1938 Bonnefont Cloister Garden View New York Vintage Postcard

About This Vintage Postcard

This serene sepia-toned postcard features the Bonnefont Cloister at The Cloisters museum in Upper Manhattan, New York City. The scene looks through an arcade of medieval columns toward the garden courtyard, which was modeled after a 12th-century monastic herb garden. Opened in 1938 as a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the building is famously constructed from parts of several different European abbeys. This view captures the quiet, contemplative atmosphere of the museum, which is situated on a cliff overlooking the Hudson River in Fort Tryon Park.

Details

Era: White Border Era even though no border (Circa 1938)
City: New York State or Region: New York
Country: USA
Topic: The Cloisters Museum, Bonnefont Cloister, Medieval Art, Herb Garden, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fort Tryon Park
Condition: Uncirculated
Postage: None
Address Side: Divided back
Orientation: Horizontal (Landscape)
Artist / Photographer: Unstated
Publisher: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Printer: Likely a high-quality American phototypie studio
Print Type: Sepia-toned Collotype (Phototypie)

Additional Information

The Bonnefont Cloister garden is renowned for its collection of medieval plant species, which were historically used for medicine, food, and dyes. This museum was a passion project of John D. Rockefeller Jr., who gifted the collection and the surrounding parkland to the city. The continuous-tone collotype printing on this card perfectly captures the fine textures of the ancient stone capitals and the geometric layout of the garden beds. This specific printing was sold as an official souvenir by the Metropolitan Museum of Art during the museum's early years of operation.

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