Celebrate the newly conserved mural with Nina and Larry Chertoff, the now-adult children for whom the mural was originally painted; conservation artists, museum supporters and other special guests
WHEN: Wednesday, April 13 beginning at 6pm (to end at 8pm)
WHERE: The Rosenbach Museum & Library
2008-2010 Delancey Place, Philadelphia, PA 19103.
For more information, call (215) 732-1600 or visit www.rosenbach.org.
WHO: Nina and Larry Chertoff and family;Bill Adair, Pew Center for Arts & Heritage; Eileen M. Baird, Michael and Frances Baylson; Amanda Bennett, Trustee; G.T. Burkett, President of Philadelphia Geographical Society; John Carr, Principal, Milner+Carr Conservation; Frank Cooper, Partner, Duane Morris LLP; Derick Dreher, Director, Rosenbach Museum & Library; Honorary Trustee Fred Haas; Alan and Nancy Hirsig; Mural conservator Cassie Myers; Michael Naidoff, Trustee; Arthur Spector, Trustee;Ann Wilcox, Connelly Foundation;Museum supporters, staff and friends.
WHAT: The Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadelphia celebrates 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 tonight, Wednesday, April 13 from 6pm – 8pm. Event attendees include Nina and Larry Chertoff, the now adult children for whom the mural was originally painted for, family and friends of the Chertoff’s, the mural conservation artists, museum supporters, and staff, among others. The evening will feature a reception and special remarks from those who made this project possible, hors d’oeuvres, cocktails and good company.
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. Maurice Sendak originally painted the mural for his friend Roslyn Chertoff and her two children (Nina and Larry) in the bedroom of their New York apartment overlooking Central Park.
Measuring nearly 4’ x 13’, the mural was donated to the Rosenbach Museum & Library byNina and Larry Chertoff,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 is installed on the first floor of the museum in the Maurice Sendak Gallery and is now on permanent display.
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.
For the complex and intricate conservation process, the Rosenbach partnered with Milner + Carr Conservation LLC, a Philadelphia-based firm led by architect John Milner and principal architectural conservator John Carr. Cassie Myers, a mural specialist, formerly of the Getty Conservation Institute, performed the majority of the conservation work.
In March 2008, Judith Guston, the Rosenbach’s Curator and Director of Collections, went to New York with a team of conservators from Milner + Carr to remove the mural from the Chertoff’s New York apartment. For the safety of 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 were reunited. Flaking and loosening areas of the painted surface were stabilized and areas of loss were reversibly inpainted.
Learn more about the history of the mural and Maurice Sendak’s relationship with the museum.
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Required Image Credits
All images used in print and online must bear appropriate copyright credits.
Full mural after conservation
File name: The Chertoff Mural-Maurice Sendak-After Conservation.jpg
Credit: The Chertoff Mural. © Maurice Sendak 1961 and 2011. All rights reserved. Photographed by Douglas A. Lockard. Post-production by Stephen Stinehour.
File name: Sendak Mural Installation-6.jpg
Credit: A team of eight art handlers and conservators transported the mural from the truck to the museum’s Maurice Sendak Gallery. Elyse Poinsett, Rosenbach Museum & Library.
File name: Sendak Mural Installation-9.jpg
Credit: The gantry slowly hoisted the mural into position. Elyse Poinsett, Rosenbach Museum & Library.
File name: The Chertoff Mural-in-progress-by Michael O’Reilly.jpg
Credit: Conservator Cassie Myers performs a conservation treatment on Maurice Sendak’s 1961 The Chertoff Mural. Photo by Michael O’Reilly.
Full mural prior to conservation
File name: The Chertoff Mural prior to conservation - Maurice Sendak.jpg
Credit: The Chertoff Mural, prior to conservation. © 1961 by Maurice Sendak, all rights reserved.
File name: Rosebach_outside_photo.jpg
Credit: The Rosenbach Museum & Library is located at 2008-2010 Delancey Place, set within two historic 1865 townhouses in Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square neighborhood.
![[After conservation] The Chertoff Mural. © Maurice Sendak 1961 and 2011. All rights reserved. Photographed by Douglas A. Lockard. Post-production by Stephen Stinehour.](/sites/default/files/The%20Chertoff%20Mural-Maurice%20Sendak-After%20Conservation_1.jpg "[After conservation] The Chertoff Mural. © Maurice Sendak 1961 and 2011. All rights reserved. Photographed by Douglas A. Lockard. Post-production by Stephen Stinehour."){kind=small}
