Artist Serge Strosberg (left) and J. Turner Moore’s grandson Cameron Charles pose with the new portrait of Moore at the Manalapan library. Photo provided by Michelle Donahue
By Hannah Spence
It’s like a piece of Manalapan’s library has gone from Kansas to Oz, with Palm Beach artist Serge Strosberg the wizard behind the transformation with his new portrait of the library’s namesake.
Strosberg was asked to reimagine the black-and-white portrait of J. Turner Moore that hung for decades on a library wall but was in a state of disrepair.
He had little else to work from.
“There was a portrait of Moore that was in the closet, that was in very poor condition. It had tears, it was monochromatic, and it was all blurry. It had to be redone completely.
And the challenge was there are no photographs of that man. He was mayor of Manalapan and commissioner for many years. … It’s strange,” Strosberg said.
Strosberg used a technique called oil and egg tempera painting, which creates more light contrasts and depth, which gives portraits more life and emotion. Because there wasn’t any color in the old portrait, Strosberg had to reinvent skin tones and made choices about the color of eyes and clothing by consulting Cameron Charles, Moore’s last surviving grandchild, who commissioned the artwork.
That addition of color to the portrait — much like the transformation Dorothy experienced as a twister took her from a monochrome Midwest farm to the Technicolor land of Oz — had a profound effect. “I think the younger generations need something more colorful. Something that is more appealing to them. It’s also a portrait that will be at the library for a long time, so it’s important that it looks good when the future generations visit the library,” Strosberg said.
Strosberg was also asked to examine the library’s portrait of Moore’s wife, Mary Louise Moore. He said that portrait had color missing in some areas and required touching up, but didn’t have to be entirely repainted like her husband’s.
The library unveiled the new portrait and the touched-up one during a Feb. 6 library lecture — attended by Strosberg and Charles — featuring local historian Michelle Donahue, who expounded on the library’s significance.
“It was important to me to thank the people who work at the library from the city, to the volunteer level, and to thank the members — people who contribute to the library and keep it going,” Charles said.
The J. Turner Moore Memorial Library has been a beloved staple of Manalapan for over five decades, acting as a social hangout spot while simultaneously being a venue that provides access to knowledge — both nonfiction and works of the imagination.
In 1977, the library was formally dedicated in Moore’s honor after his death the previous year. Moore served as mayor of Manalapan and sought to create a library after discovering that doing so would keep the town from having to be part of the Palm Beach County library taxing district. The current library structure, built in 1981, also wraps around and hides the town’s 400,000-gallon water storage tank.
Moore, an entrepreneur, at one time was CEO of Rebat Battery in Reading, Pennsylvania, and ran other businesses, such as the Keebler Co.
Donahue said she and a former town clerk, Lisa Petersen, suggested commissioning a new painting.
“A lot of people come here, and they don’t understand or know the history of the area,” said Donahue, who started researching the history of the library in 2016 and has since spread her knowledge in publications such as the Brown Wrapper historical newsletter.
“It’s taken us a while to get here, but through this process, we’ve been able to meet new people like J. Moore’s grandson and his wife; and from that, we’ve been able to put this together eight years later,” she said.
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