A remarkable mural from the New Deal era, featuring a character from “Alice in Wonderland,” is set to be publicly unveiled. This work, titled “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in New York,” was crafted by New York artist Abram Champagnier between 1938 and 1940 during a WPA project aimed at enriching the children’s ward of Gouverneur Hospital, where many children were treated for tuberculosis on the Lower East Side.
Before the hospital’s deteriorating interior was demolished in 1981, these historic panels were salvaged and restored, an effort described by art experts as miraculous. Now, all 16 of these unique panels—including two that were reconstructed—are on display for the first time in an exhibit called “Another Wonderland: Abram Champagnier’s Alice Murals,” which opened on June 6 at the Museum of the City of New York on the Upper East Side.
According to exhibition curator Lily Tuttle, this mural is particularly significant as it is the only federally funded mural for a children’s ward created during the New Deal, and its near loss makes it even more important to exhibit.
This whimsical mural captures adventures of Alice and her friends across various iconic New York sights, from flying over the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty to visits to Coney Island and the Central Park Zoo, even riding the Number 4 train. Tuttle remarked, “For a kid living on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, it must have felt like a fantasy land.”
She also noted the mural reflects a modern vision of New York, highlighting landmarks created less than a decade prior, such as the Empire State Building, and mentions of the famous ocean liner, SS Normandy, popular at the time.
Officials from NYC Health + Hospitals’ Arts in Medicine program believe the mural serves as an early example of art therapy, providing a colorful escape for isolated children before the era of video games and television. Larissa Trinder, vice president of art in medicine, emphasized the importance of cultural relevance in hospital art, explaining that children could connect with images from their own surroundings.
The murals, alongside works from artists like Keith Haring and Mickalen Thomas, are part of a collection comprising roughly 8,000 pieces owned by New York City Health + Hospitals. Conservators dedicated nearly 40 years to restoring these murals, using black-and-white photos for reference and carefully analyzing the original use of color and movement.
John Lippert, one of the conservators, shared that some murals were significantly damaged, requiring extensive detective work to recover missing text. For instance, it took him three months to identify the single missing word in a mural depicting characters aboard a crowded train: “Merlin.”
This exhibition also highlights Champagnier’s early contributions. A Russian-Polish Jewish immigrant who arrived at Ellis Island in 1905, he created several notable works for the WPA, a New Deal initiative that integrated art into public buildings during the Great Depression.
After the exhibition concludes in September, the mural series will be reinstalled at NYC Health + Hospitals/Gouverneur, which reopened in 1972 just a few blocks from its original site. Trinder explained that the panels will be displayed across two floors, allowing visitors to interact with them, with views accessible through glass windows for public enjoyment.
“With ‘Another Wonderland,’ we hope visitors will experience the same joy and sense of discovery that these murals brought to young patients decades ago,” she added.
