For those of you who have seen Peter Dobrin’s recent articles in the Philadelphia Inquirier (both Sunday‘s and Tuesday‘s), you already know that the Sendak Collection held here on deposit since 1968 will be leaving us shortly and returning to the Sendak Foundation in Connecticut. Our exhibition Sendak in the ‘60s will remain on view …
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Sendak in the ’60s
Judging by this sidewalk sign the good folks at Capogiro gelateria (just up 20th Street from the museum) must have paid a visit recently to our new exhibition Sendak in the ’60s. Sendak’s original drawing of Max and Moishe the Wild Thing is part of the exhibition that explores his most productive and experimental decade. …
Ha Ha Tonka
A little over two years ago Maurice Sendak gave what would be his last interview for NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Sendak had been on the show a number of times and fans have commented on Sendak and Gross’s rapport, which only grew over the years. But this interview was different. Still reeling from …
“Max Sendak’s” wild rumpus turns 50
Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are turned 50 this week (November 20 to be precise)–that’s 50 years of rumpuses; of successive printings and translations; of adaptations in art, opera, and film; and of multiple generations finding some connection that keeps them reading, looking, and passing it on. Such longevity is a remarkable achievement for …
In The Beginning…
…there was an empty gallery. Now it’s full of early Hebrew printed books, the first books by and about Jewish Americans, and artifacts related to the Gratz family, one of the earliest and most prominent Jewish families in Philadelphia. Collected by museum co-founder Dr. A.S.W. Rosenbach, these three themes make up the new exhibition In …
A Manjiro Homecoming–Part 2: The World of Manjiro
Two weeks ago I wrote about Judy Guston’s and my pilgrimage to sites related to Nakahama Manjiro, the mid-19th-century Japanese sailor, translator, and all-around renaissance man whose manuscript we recently loaned to the Sakamoto Ryoma Memorial Museum in Kochi, Japan. This week I thought I’d tell you a little more about the exhibition and the …
A Manjiro Homecoming–Part 1: Manjiro Pilgrimage
Museums travel their objects all over the world, and the Rosenbach is no exception. But it’s especially interesting to travel around the world with an object that’s all about world travel. The object in question is our manuscript relating to Nakahama Manjiro’s travels from Japan to the U.S. and back from 1841-51, which we recently …
Sendak and Science: Atomics for the Millions
Final drawing for Atomics for the Millions. Pen and ink, gouache. (C) 1946-7 by Maurice Sendak. Maurice Sendak got his first “gig” in the world of book illustration when he was 18, as some astonishing materials recently purchased by the Rosenbach attest. It was the spring of 1946, and his physics teacher at Lafayette High …
Memento Maury
(C) 2013 by the Estate of Maurice Sendak. My Brother’s Book, the last book completed by Maurice Sendak before he died in May of 2012, was published ten days ago and it has already sparked a number of interesting literary associations ranging from Shakespeare to Austen. It makes sense that a number of reviews so …
Sendak Mural arrives in New Year
The Chertoff Mural prior to conservation. (C) 1961 by Maurice Sendak, all rights reserved. To add to all the other exciting news circulating around our collections recently, we’ve gotten word that a mural painted by Maurice Sendak on the wall of a New York apartment in 1961 will finally be arriving at the museum in …