Rosenbach Museum & Library

Projects

  • Ongoing Publicity - 07-08
The Rosenbach Museum & Library presents There’s a Mystery There: Sendak on Sendak, Major retrospective of Maurice Sendak’s work goes way beyond Where the Wild Things Are


PHILADELPHIA — The Rosenbach Museum & Library will present There’s a Mystery There: Sendak on Sendak from May 6, 2008 through May 3, 2009. This major retrospective of over 130 pieces pulled from the museum’s vast Maurice Sendak collection – the biggest collection of “Sendakiana” in the world – is the largest and most ambitious exhibition of Sendak’s work ever created and will feature original artwork, rare sketches, never-before-seen working materials and exclusive interview footage. The exhibition will draw on a total of over 300 objects, with new works on display every four months, providing a unique experience with each set of illustrations.

Sendak, famed author and illustrator of Where the Wild Things Are and 108 other books, once praised Herman Melville’s writings, saying, “There’s a mystery there, a clue, a nut, a bolt, and if I put it together, I find me.” The Rosenbach invites visitors to discover the mystery and magic of Sendak’s work for themselves with an exhibition that unveils an intimate portrait of a masterful storyteller engaging with challenging themes such as childhood anxiety, war, poverty, and the Holocaust. 

The Rosenbach Museum & Library is located at 2008-2010 Delancey Place in Philadelphia and is open Tuesday through Sunday. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and groups of 10 or more, $5 for students and children ages 5-18, and free for children under 5. For more information, please call (215) 732-1600 or visit www.rosenbach.org. After completing its Philadelphia run in May 2009, this exhibition will travel to three other American venues over the next several years. 

There’s a Mystery There will take visitors on a tour through Sendak’s prolific imagination by exploring the characters, influences and settings of his richest stories, as well as his quest to illustrate what he calls “the Other Story,” the hidden meanings of a text. From his simplest sketches to his most complex books, visitors will confront the most poignant, humorous and haunting aspects of Sendak’s work throughout four galleries and two floors of the historic house and museum – the Rosenbach’s largest exhibition to date. 

Maurice Sendak chose the Rosenbach to be the repository for his work in the early 1970s thanks to shared literary and collecting interests. His collection of nearly 10,000 works of art, manuscripts, books and ephemera, has been the subject of many exhibitions and has been enjoyed by visitors of all ages. One of the most famous creators of contemporary children's books, Maurice Sendak’s work 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 Book 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).

DOWNLOAD Sendak on Sedak Press Materials
1. Press Release: "The Rosenbach Museum & Library presents "There’s a Mystery There: Sendak on Sendak", Major retrospective of Maurice Sendak's work (Mar. 2008)"
2. Sample Images with in-depth descriptions: "Sendak on Sendak: Sample Images"
3. Exhibition Facts, Maurice Sendak Quotes, Timeline, Fun Features for Families, Book List, etc: "Sendak on Sendak: Exhibition Facts and Timeline"
(To download press materials, select the files in the right-hand column under Press Releases)

About the Rosenbach
The Rosenbach Museum & Library seeks to inspire curiosity, inquiry, and creativity by engaging broad audiences in exhibitions, programs, and research based on its remarkable and expanding collections. The museum was founded by legendary book dealer A.S.W. Rosenbach and his brother and business partner Philip. With an outstanding collection of rare books, manuscripts, furniture, and art, the Rosenbach is a museum and world-renowned research library, set within two historic 1865 townhouses, that reflects an age when great collectors lived among their treasures.

Press

"Sendak on Sendak...was really an 'experience.' Each of the four gallery spaces covered a different aspect of Sendak's life and who he was as an artist and concerned citizen of the world... Through close examination of Sendak's sketches and listening to him speak about his own work (video kiosks in each gallery!), I found that if one peeks behind the pop-culture veil of Sendak as a whimsical children's book illustrator, a very concerned, cultured, and thoughtful man exists with some very serious, sometimes dark ideas on politics and socioeconomic issues." Read the full blogger review, artintheage.com.
- Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
Hear author Maurice Sendak reflect on turning 80 and discuss his life in art and the Rosenbach Museum on the National Public Radio show, Here and Now.  Listen online:  hear-now.org.
- Here and Now, NPR
The Rosenbach Museum & Library is the subject of "The Word Museum," a feature article on the museum's literary treasures, published in Humanities Magazine by The National Endowment for the Humanities. Read the full story here, nea.gov.
- Humanities Magazine, The National Endowment for the Humanities
"Prodigious output isn't what makes Sendak a legendary American illustrator, though. Rather, it's the fact that his books expose the core of what childhood should mean - or what it used to mean before adults took control of it... Sendak is a complex personality, and his layered narratives - his stories within stories - are no less so. Yet no matter how the stories differ, they share an essential charm, the re-creation of a world where children were allowed to be themselves, for better or for worse, however briefly."

Read the full review by Inquirer Art Critic Edward Sozanski here, philly.com.
- Philadelphia Inquirer
Read the Associated Press story on the Rosenbach's Really Rosie exhibit: Where the Sendak things are: The work of the famed children's book author celebrated at Philly's Rosenbach Museum. Click HERE.
- Associated Press

Rosenbach Wins Best of Philly 2007: Museum You've Never Been To. Read the full story here, phillymag.com.

Proclamation
- Philadelphia Magazine
Philadelphia Magazine recently profiled the Rosenbach's annual Bloomsday celebration. Read the feature story here, Dublin Comes to Delancey.
- Philadelphia Magazine
Read Religion & Ethics Newsweekly's overview of Chosen here: The Story of the Hebrew Book.
- PBS, Religion & Ethics Newsweekly
Read The Forward's review of Chosen, the Rosenbach's current exhibit, here: Peering Inside A Jewel Box Of Judaica.
- The Forward