UPDATE (April 13, 2011): The Rosenbach Museum & Library celebrated the completion of conservation work on The Chertoff Mural – the only surviving mural painted by famed author and illustrator Maurice Sendak – with a special unveiling and reception on Wednesday, April 13, 2011. The mural is installed on the first floor of the museum in the Maurice Sendak Gallery and is now on permanent display. View the newly conserved mural here. 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 31, 2011

PHILADELPHIA — The Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadelphia has embarked on a landmark conservation project of the only surviving mural painted by Maurice Sendak, famed author and illustrator of Where the Wild Things Are and over 100 other books. Completed circa 1961 just before Sendak became a household name, The Chertoff Mural depicts a processional of children and animals, including figures that become familiar in Sendak’s later work. Sendak originally painted the mural for his friend Roslyn Chertoff and her two children in the bedroom of their New York apartment.

Measuring nearly 4’ x 13’, the mural was donated to the Rosenbach Museum & Library by Nina and Larry Chertoff, the now adult-children for whom the mural was painted, in loving memory of parents Roslyn and Lionel Chertoff and Maurice Sendak’s late partner Eugene Glynn. The Rosenbach, the sole repository of Sendak’s original artwork, spearheaded the mural conservation project beginning in 2007.

On Wednesday, January 19, 2011, The Chertoff Mural moved to its permanent home at the Rosenbach Museum & Library. The mural has been installed on the first floor of the museum in the Maurice Sendak Gallery where conservation will be completed.

Public visiting hours to view the mural conservation in process will be held weekly through its completion on Wednesdays between the hours of noon – 1 p.m. and 6 – 7 p.m., beginning Wednesday, February 2, 2011. Rosenbach staff members will be available during visiting hours to discuss the mural’s history, Sendak’s relationship to the museum, and the conservation process. Conservation work is expected to continue through March 2011. Occasional interruptions to this schedule may be necessary if conservation work at any time includes the use of any materials that would be potentially hazardous to the health or safety of visitors. Museumgoers are encouraged to confirm public visiting hours in advance via the museum website at www.rosenbach.org or by calling (215) 732-1600.

For this complex and intricate process, the Rosenbach partnered with Milner + Carr Conservation LLC, a Philadelphia-based firm led by architect John Milner and principal architectural conservator John Carr. The majority of the conservation work will be performed by Cassie Myers, a mural specialist, formerly of the Getty Conservation Institute. Maurice Sendak plans to visit Philadelphia during conservation.

The Chertoff Mural is colorful, rambunctious, and lively. The leader of the procession depicted in the mural is Sendak’s own dog, Jennie, who had already appeared in his books Kenny’s Window (1956) and What Do You Say, Dear? (1958); she would later turn up as Max’s dog in Where the Wild Things Are (1963) in a nearly identical pose. The dog is followed by two boys playing a drum and a trumpet, a lion on a chain holding an umbrella, and a little girl in a red dress leading a bear on a leash. Two birds complete the group, as a golden sun shines in the upper right corner. The finished mural display will feature interpretive materials exploring the histories and futures of figures in the mural, many of whom become familiar in Sendak’s later work.

Judith Guston, the Rosenbach’s Curator and Director of Collections, first went to see the mural in the Chertoff’s New York apartment in the Summer of 2007. “I think the most striking thing about the mural was its location in a room that overlooked New York City’s Central Park,” said Guston. “The light streaming into the high windows, while curators usually think of it as bad for art, lent a sense of joy and movement to the work, almost leading the procession of characters outside into the park, which is what I was convinced the work was supposed to do – to lead the children from their bedroom outside into a place of adventure and play.”

In March 2008, Guston returned to New York with a team of conservators from Milner + Carr to remove the mural from the apartment. For the safety of The Chertoff Mural during its removal and transportation from New York to Philadelphia, Milner + Carr’s conservation team removed the entire wall on which the mural was painted in two thick, plaster-covered masonry slabs, weighing about 1,400 pounds in total. The mural was then transported to Milner + Carr’s conservation studio for preliminary evaluation before it moved to the Rosenbach. To prepare for installation, conservators removed some of the heavy plaster and brown coat from the backside of the mural wall. The total weight of the mural, now installed at the museum, is approximately a half-ton. During conservation, the two pieces of the mural will be reunited. Flaking and loosening areas of the painted surface will be stabilized and areas of loss will be reversibly inpainted.

Sendak & The Rosenbach

Maurice Sendak chose the Rosenbach Museum & Library to be the repository for his work in 1967 thanks to shared literary and collecting interests. Sendak first met Clive Driver, then Director of the Rosenbach Museum & Library, in 1966 at the Free Library of Philadelphia. Sendak was invited to speak, along with other artists and scholars, at a conference hosted by the library on Beatrix Potter in celebration of the 100th anniversary of her birth. From Clive, Sendak learned that the Rosenbach had one of the best Herman Melville collections in the world, among other artists that he loved, like William Blake, Sir John Tenniel, and George Cruikshank.

In a 2007 interview, Sendak said, “Clive and I got to talking and he began to tell me about The Rosenbach and the virtues of The Rosenbach, and I was then looking for a place to give my stuff to, but I didn’t want it to go to a university… Because they were buried in sealed vaults and whoever got to see them? The point of giving something away and then treating it as it were death of the family was hardly what I was looking forward to. So I was saying where was a place where people could, if they wanted to, make an appointment and see the pictures. So Clive would say, that’s just what we do… They had people I love, artists I love. They had the Alice illustrations… I remember I would lay in The Doctor’s room – Dr. Rosenbach – and Clive would bring me in some drawings for a French novel by Fragonard and they would be in the bed with me. And there was a big fur, animal fur blanket, and I used to lay under it with my Fragonards all around. Hey – that was living! Of course, they took it all back in the morning, that’s the way of life. So anyways, I concluded that that’s where I wanted to be and that’s where it began.”

Today, the Rosenbach regularly features Maurice Sendak related exhibitions, programs, and events. The Sendak collection of nearly 10,000 works of art, manuscripts, books and ephemera has been enjoyed by visitors of all ages. One of the most famous creators of contemporary children’s books, Maurice Sendak has challenged the norms of children’s literature over time and continues to entrance both children and adults to this day. His innovative techniques and honest portrayal of childhood emotion are celebrated worldwide and have earned him several prestigious honors, including the Caldecott Medal (1964), the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal (1970), the National Medal of Arts (1996), a Library of Congress “Living Legend” medal (2000) and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for Literature (2003).

Funding for the Sendak mural conservation project has been generously provided by the William B. Dietrich Foundation, the McLean Contributionship, and more than fifty individual contributors.To learn more about the museum’s “Bring It Home” mural fundraising campaign visit www.rosenbach.org/mural.

For complete Maurice Sendak related program and event information, visit www.rosenbach.org.

VISITOR FACT SHEET

Where:  The Rosenbach Museum & Library
2008-2010 Delancey Place, Philadelphia, PA 19103

Hours:  Tuesday: 12-5pm; Wednesday & Thursday: 12-8pm
Friday: 12-5pm; Saturday & Sunday: 12-6pm
Closed Mondays and National Holidays

Mural Hours:  Public visiting hours to view the mural conservation in process will be held on Wednesdays between the hours of noon – 1 p.m. and 6 – 7 p.m., beginning Wednesday, February 2, 2011. Visit www.rosenbach.org or call (215) 732-1600 in advance to confirm visitor hours.

Admission:  Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, $5 for students and free for children under 5.

Information:  (215) 732-1600or visit www.rosenbach.org.

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Required Image Credits

All images used in print and online must bear appropriate copyright credits. To download a brief image credit instruction document click here (will save as a PDF).

Credit for full mural: “The Chertoff Mural, prior to conservation. © 1961 by Maurice Sendak, all rights reserved.”

Credit for all detail images: “Detail prior to conservation, The Chertoff Mural. © 1961 by Maurice Sendak, all rights reserved.”