Maurice Sendak | |
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 Sendak in 2009 | |
| Born | Maurice Bernard Sendak (1928-06-10)June 10, 1928 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | May 8, 2012(2012-05-08) (aged 83) Danbury, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Occupation |
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| Alma mater | Art Students League of New York |
| Period | 1947–2012 |
| Genre |
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| Partner | Eugene David Glynn (1957–2007; Glynn's death)[1] |
| Parents |
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| Relatives | Jack Sendak (brother) |
Maurice Bernard Sendak (/ˈsɛndæk/; June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012) was an American author and illustrator of children's books. Born toPolish-Jewish parents, his childhood was impacted by the death of many of his family members duringthe Holocaust. Sendak illustrated his own books as well as those by other authors, such as theLittle Bear series byElse Holmelund Minarik. He achieved acclaim withWhere the Wild Things Are (1963), the first of a trilogy followed byIn the Night Kitchen (1970) andOutside Over There (1981).[2] He designed sets foroperas, notablyMozart'sThe Magic Flute.[3]
In 1987, Sendak was the subject of anAmerican Masters documentary, "Mon Cher Papa".[4] In 1996, he received theNational Medal of Arts.[5] PerMargalit Fox, Sendak, "the most important children's book artist of the 20th century", "wrenched the picture book out of the safe, sanitized world of the nursery and plunged it into the dark, terrifying and hauntingly beautiful recesses of the human psyche."[3]
Sendak was born on June 10, 1928, inBrooklyn,New York, to Polish-Jewish immigrants Sadie (née Schindler) andPhilip Sendak, a dressmaker.[6][7][8] Maurice said that his childhood was a "terrible situation" due to the death of members of his extended family during the Holocaust which introduced him at a young age to the concept of mortality.[9] His love of books began when, as a child, he developed health issues and was confined to his bed.[10] He was "enthralled byMickey Mouse (who was created the year of his birth), by Americancomics, and by the bright lights of Manhattan."[2] When he was 12 years old, he decided to become an illustrator after watchingWalt Disney's filmFantasia (1940).[11]
Maurice was the youngest of three siblings, born five years afterJack Sendak and nine years after Natalie Sendak.[12] Jack also became an author of children's books, two of which were illustrated by Maurice in the 1950s.[13] In 2011, Maurice was working on a book about noses, and he attributed his love of the olfactory organ to his brother Jack, who — in Sendak's opinion — had a great nose.[14]
At the New York Art Students League, he took a class fromJohn Groth, who taught him “a sense of the enormous potential for motion, for aliveness in illustration … He himself … showed how much fun creating in it could be.”[15]
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Maurice Sendak began his professional career in 1947 with illustrations for apopular science book,Atomics For the Millions.[3] One of Sendak's first professional commissions, when he was 20 years old,[14] was creating window displays for the toy storeFAO Schwarz. The store's children's book buyer introduced him toUrsula Nordstrom, children's book editor atHarper & Row, who would go on to editE. B. White'sCharlotte's Web (1952) andLouise Fitzhugh'sHarriet the Spy (1964).[15] This led to his first illustrations for a children's book, forMarcel Aymé'sThe Wonderful Farm (1951).[3] His work appears in eight books byRuth Krauss, includingA Hole is to Dig (1952), which brought wide attention to his artwork.[16][17] He illustrated the first five books inElse Holmelund Minarik'sLittle Bear series.[18] The Maurice Sendak Foundation cites Krauss, Nordstrom andCrockett Johnson as mentors to Sendak.[19] He made his solo debut withKenny's Window (1956).[3] He published theNutshell Library (1962), consisting ofAlligators All Around,One Was Johnny,Pierre andChicken Soup With Rice.[3] Sendak said of Nordstrom: “She treated me like a hothouse flower, watered me for ten years, and hand-picked the works that were to become my permanent backlist and bread-and-butter support.”[15]
Sendak gained international acclaim after writing and illustratingWhere the Wild Things Are (1963), edited by Nordstrom. It features Max, a boy who "rages against his mother for being sent to bed without any supper".[20] The book's depictions of fanged monsters concerned some parents when it was first published, as his characters were somewhatgrotesque in appearance.[3] Sendak explained that the title came from theYiddish phrase vilde chaya, or “wild beast.”: “It’s what almost every Jewish mother or father says to their offspring, ‘You’re acting like a vilde chaya! Stop it!’”[15] It won theCaldecott Medal, considered the highest honor for picture books in the United states.[3]Humphrey Carpenter and Mari Prichard write that "it is generally considered unequaled in its exploration of a child's fantasy world and its relation to real life."[2] It was adapted into anopera byOliver Knussen and afilm bySpike Jonze.[15]
Sendak later recounted the reaction of a fan:
A little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children's letters–sometimes very hastily–but this one I lingered over. I sent him a card and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, "Dear Jim: I loved your card." Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said: "Jim loved your card so much he ate it." That to me was one of the highest compliments I've ever received. He didn't care that it was an original Maurice Sendak drawing or anything. He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.[21]
Sendak illustratedThe Bat Poet (1964), a children's book byRandall Jarrell.[22]When Sendak saw a manuscript ofZlateh the Goat and Other Stories, the first children's book byIsaac Bashevis Singer, on the desk of an editor at Harper & Row, he offered to illustrate it. It was first published in 1966 and received aNewbery Honor. Sendak was enthusiastic about the collaboration. He once wryly remarked that his parents were "finally" impressed by their youngest child when he collaborated with Singer.[23]
Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More To Life (1967), inspired by Sendak's dog, Jennie, was his favorite of his books. He called it “my requiem for [Jennie]—an unsentimental, even comic requiem to a shrewd, stubborn, loyal, and lovable creature whose all consuming passion was food."[15]
In the Night Kitchen (1970) is "a further exploration of a boy's fantasy world, this time closely based on Sendak's childhood memories of New York life."[2] Fox writes "the huge, flat, brightly colored illustrations" are "a tribute to the New York of Mr. Sendak’s childhood, recalling the 1930s films and comic books he adored all his life."[3] Sendak explained: "It was an homage to everything I loved: New York,immigrants,Jews,Laurel and Hardy,Mickey Mouse,King Kong,movies. I just jammed them into one cuckoo book.”[15] It has often been censored for its drawings of a young boy prancing naked through the story. The book has beenchallenged in several U.S. states includingIllinois,New Jersey,Minnesota, andTexas.[24]In the Night Kitchen regularly appears on theAmerican Library Association's list of "frequently challenged and banned books". It was listed number 21 on the "100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–1999".[25]
Outside Over There (1981) the story of a girl named Ida and her sibling jealousy and responsibility. Her father is away, so Ida is left to watch her baby sister, much to her dismay. Her sister is kidnapped by goblins and Ida must go off on a magical adventure to rescue her. At first, she is not really eager to get her sister and nearly passes right by her when she becomes absorbed in the magic of the quest. In the end, she rescues her sister, destroys the goblins, and returns home committed to caring for her sister until her father returns. This rescue story includes an illustration of a ladder leaning out of the window of a home, which according to one report, was based on the crime scene in theLindbergh kidnapping, "which terrified Sendak as a child."[14][3] Carpenter and Prichard write, "More dark in subject matter thanWhere the Wild Things Are andIn the Night Kitchen, it was published on both adult and children's book lists, and showed a marked change in illustrative style, entirely away from the comic-strip manner that was always partly apparent in the other two."[2] Sendak included a cameo from one of his favorite composers,Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.[15] A collection of his essays and lectures were published asCaldecott & Co.: Notes on Books and Pictures (1988).[26]
In 1993, Sendak publishedWe Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy, about theAIDS crisis.[27] Later in the 1990s, Sendak approached playwrightTony Kushner to write a new English-language version of the Czech composerHans Krása's Holocaust operaBrundibár which, remarkably, had been performed by children in theTheresienstadt concentration camp.[14] Kushner wrote the text for Sendak's illustrated book of the same name, published in 2003. The book was named one ofThe New York Times Book Review's10 Best Illustrated Books of 2003.Gregory Maguire wrote: “In a career that spans 50 years and counting, as Sendak’s does, there are bound to be lesser works.Brundibar is not lesser than anything.”[28]
In 2011, Sendak adapted hisSesame Street shortBumble Ardy into a children's book, his first in over thirty years, and ultimately his last published work before his death.[29]My Brother's Book (2013) was published posthumously.Dwight Garner wrote "Its charms are simmering and reflective ones. This moral fable may find its largest audience among adults."[30]
Sendak was an early member of the National Board of Advisors of theChildren's Television Workshop during the development stages of theSesame Street television series. He created two animated stories for the series:Bumble Ardy, an animated sequence withJim Henson as the voice of Bumble Ardy, andSeven Monsters.[31] Sendak later adaptedSeven Monsters into the bookSeven Little Monsters, which itself would be adapted into ananimated television series.
Sendak wrote an animatedmusical,Really Rosie, featuring the voice ofCarole King and broadcast in 1975. It is available on video (usually as part of video compilations of his work). An album of the songs was also produced. He contributed the opening segment toSimple Gifts, a Christmas collection of six animated shorts shown onPBS in 1977 and later released on VHS in 1993. He adaptedWhere the Wild Things Are for the stage in 1979. Additionally, he designed sets and costumes for many operas and ballets, including the award-winningPacific Northwest Ballet 1983 production ofTchaikovsky'sThe Nutcracker,Glyndebourne Festival Opera's productions ofProkofiev'sThe Love for Three Oranges (1982),Ravel'sL'enfant et les sortilèges andL'heure espagnole (1987) and Knussen's adaptation of Sendak's ownHigglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life (1985),Houston Grand Opera's productions of Mozart'sThe Magic Flute (1981) andHumperdinck'sHansel and Gretel (1997), Los Angeles County Music Center's 1990 production of Mozart'sIdomeneo,New York City Opera's production ofJanáček'sThe Cunning Little Vixen (1981) and theLyric Opera of Kansas City's production of Mozart'sThe Goose of Cairo (1982).[15]
In 2003,Chicago Opera Theatre produced Sendak and Kushner's adaptation ofBrundibár. In 2005,Berkeley Repertory Theatre, in collaboration withYale Repertory Theatre and Broadway'sNew Victory Theater, produced a substantially re-worked version of the Sendak-Kushner adaptation. In 2004, Sendak worked with the Shirim Klezmer Orchestra in Boston on their projectPincus and the Pig: A Klezmer Tale. ThisKlezmer version of Prokofiev's best-known musical story for children,Peter and the Wolf, featured Maurice Sendak as the narrator. He also illustrated the cover art.[15]
Margalit Fox writes that "His art graced the writing of other eminent authors for children and adults, includingHans Christian Andersen,Leo Tolstoy,Herman Melville,William Blake and Isaac Bashevis Singer."[3]
Sendak mentioned in a September 2008 article inThe New York Times that he was gay and had lived with his partner,psychoanalystEugene David Glynn (February 25, 1926 – May 15, 2007), for 50 years before Glynn's death in May 2007. Revealing that he never told his parents, he said, "All I wanted was to be straight so my parents could be happy. They never, never, never knew."[32] Sendak's relationship with Glynn was referenced by other writers before (includingTony Kushner in 2003)[33] and Glynn's 2007 death notice identified Sendak as his "partner of fifty years".[1] After his partner's death, Sendak donated $1 million to theJewish Board of Family and Children's Services in memory of Glynn, who treated young people there. The money will go to a clinic which is to be named for Glynn.[34]
Sendak was anatheist. In a 2011 interview, he said that he did not believe in God and explained that he felt that religion, and belief in God, "must have made life much easier [for some religious friends of his]. It's harder for us non-believers."[35]
In the early 1960s, Sendak lived in a basement apartment at 29 West 9th Street inGreenwich Village where he wrote and illustratedWild Things. Later he had a nearbypied-à-terre at 40Fifth Avenue where he worked and stayed occasionally after moving full-time toRidgefield, Connecticut.[14]
He said: "I don't really believe that the kid I was has grown up into me. He still exists somewhere in the most graphic, plastic, physical way for me. I have tremendous concern for, and interest in, him. I try to communicate with him all the time. One of my worst fears is losing contact."[2]
Maurice Sendak drew inspiration and influences from a vast number of painters, musicians, and authors. Going back to his childhood, one of his earliest memorable influences was actually his father, Philip Sendak. According to Maurice, his father related tales from theTorah; however, he would embellish them with racy details. Not realizing that this was inappropriate for children, young Maurice was frequently sent home after retelling his father's "softcoreBible tales" at school.[36]Gregory Maguire says Sendak "felt he was relative to people likeEmily Dickinson andKeats andHenry James andHomer."[37]Margalit Fox wrote: "A largely self-taught illustrator, Mr. Sendak was at his finest a shtetl Blake, portraying a luminous world, at once lovely and dreadful, suspended between wakefulness and dreaming. In so doing, he was able to convey both the propulsive abandon and the pervasive melancholy of children’s interior lives. ... His visual style could range from intricately crosshatched scenes that recalled 19th-century prints to airy watercolors reminiscent ofChagall to bold, bulbous figures inspired by the comic books he loved all his life, with outsize feet that the page could scarcely contain. He never did learn to draw feet, he often said."[3]
Sendak had other influences growing up, includingWalt Disney'sFantasia andMickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse was created in the year Sendak was born, 1928, and Sendak described Mickey as being a source of joy and pleasure for him while growing up.[38] He has been quoted as saying, "My gods areHerman Melville, Emily Dickinson,Mozart. I believe in them with all my heart." Of Dickinson, he said: "I have a little tiny Emily Dickinson so big that I carry in my pocket everywhere. And you just read three poems of Emily. She is so brave. She is so strong. She is such a passionate little woman. I feel better." Of Mozart, he said, "When Mozart is playing in my room, I am in conjunction with something I can't explain. ... I don't need to. I know that if there's a purpose for life, it was for me to hear Mozart."[39]
Sendak died atDanbury Hospital inDanbury, Connecticut on May 8, 2012, at age 83, due to complications from a stroke. In accordance with his wishes, his body was cremated and his ashes were scattered at an undisclosed location.[3][40]Spike Jonze recalled "I would look at those pictures—where Max's bedroom turns into a forest—and there was something that felt like magic there."[11] Jonze directed the film adaptationWhere the Wild Things Are and the documentaryTell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak (both 2009). AuthorR. L. Stine called Sendak's death "a sad day in children's books and for the world."[41]Tom Hanks said "Maurice Sendak helped raise my kids—all four of them heard 'The night Max wore his wolf suit...' many times."[11]
Stephen Colbert, who interviewed Sendak in one of his last public appearances, said of Sendak: "We are all honored to have been briefly invited into his world."[41] On a January 2012 episode ofThe Colbert Report, Sendak taught Colbert how to illustrate and provided a book blurb for Colbert's spoof children's book,I Am a Pole (And So Can You!)[42] The book was published on the day of Sendak's death with his blurb: "The sad thing is, I like it!"[43]
The 2012 season ofPacific Northwest Ballet'sThe Nutcracker, for which Sendak designed the set and costumes, was dedicated to his memory.[44]
His final book,Bumble-Ardy, was published eight months before his death. Aposthumous picture book,My Brother's Book, was published in February 2013.[3] (2009). Jonze's filmHer was dedicated in memory of Sendak andWhere the Wild Things Are co-starJames Gandolfini.[45]Richard Robinson, executive ofScholastic Corporation, said "Maurice Sendak captured childhood in brilliant stories and drawings that will live forever."[11]Gregory Maguire, author ofMaking Mischief: A Maurice Sendak Appreciation wrote that Sendak realized "Children are full humans, compromised only by their lack of vocabulary and practice in reporting how they live. But they live as fully as Sendak himself lived right up to his last months and weeks and hours. ... [S]ome more sentimental scrap of me (that he would have scorned) hopes he is settling down to some nice bowl of chicken soup with rice with Emily Dickinson or Herman Melville. Though they have been impatient to meet him in person for a very long time, no doubt they’ll greet him as a fellow king.
By now, Sendak is finding his dinner waiting for him.
And it is still hot."[46]
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In 1968, Sendak lent theRosenbach Museum & Library inPhiladelphia, the bulk of his work including nearly 10,000 works of art, manuscripts, books, and ephemera. From May 6, 2008, through May 3, 2009, the Rosenbach presentedThere's a Mystery There: Sendak on Sendak. The major retrospective of over 130 pieces pulled from the museum's vast Sendak collection featured original artwork, rare sketches, never-before-seen working materials, and exclusive interview footage.
Exhibition highlights included:
Since the items had been on loan to the Rosenbach for decades, many in the museum world expected that the Sendak material would remain there. But Sendak's will specified that the drawings and most of the loans would remain the property of the Maurice Sendak Foundation. In 2014, representatives of his estate withdrew the works, saying they intended to follow Sendak's directive in his will to create "a museum or similar facility" inRidgefield, Connecticut, where he lived, and where his foundation is based, "to be used by scholars, students, artists, illustrators and writers, and to be opened to the general public" as the foundation's directors saw fit.
The Rosenbach filed an action in 2014, in state probate court in Connecticut, contending that the estate had kept many rare books that Sendak had pledged to the library in his will. In a ruling in Connecticut probate court, a judge awarded the bulk of the disputed book collection to the Sendak estate, not to the museum.
In 2012,School Library Journal namedWhere the Wild Things Are as its top picture book based on reader surveys. The librarian who conducted it observed that there was little doubt what would be voted number one and highlighted its designation by one reader as a watershed, "ushering in the modern age of picture books". Another called it "perfectly crafted, perfectly illustrated ... simply the epitome of a picture book" and noted that Sendak "rises above the rest in part because he is subversive."[20][47] Sendak received the third biennialHans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration in 1970, recognizing his "lasting contribution to children's literature".[48][49] He received one of two inauguralAstrid Lindgren Memorial Awards in 2003, recognizing his career contribution to "children's and young adult literature in the broadest sense". The citation called him "the modern picture-book's portal figure" and the presentation creditedWhere the Wild Things Are with "all at once [revolutionizing] the entire picture-book narrative ... thematically, aesthetically, and psychologically."[50] In the U.S., he received theLaura Ingalls Wilder Medal from the professional children's librarians in 1983, recognizing his "substantial and lasting contributions to children's literature". At the time it was awarded every three years.[51] Only Sendak and the writer Katherine Paterson have won all three of these premier awards.
Sendak has two elementary schools named in his honor, one inNorth Hollywood, California, and PS 118 in Brooklyn, New York. He received an honorary doctorate fromPrinceton University in 1984.
On June 10, 2013,Google featured an interactivedoodle where visitors could click on the video go triangle to see an animated movie-ette of Max and Sendak's other main characters.[58] On the cusp of the 125th anniversary of theBrooklyn Public Library it was revealed on November 16, 2022 that the most checked-out book in the collection was Sendak'sWhere the Wild Things Are.[59]
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