Maurice Sendak (American, 1928-2012). A Wild Thing Christmas, King of All the Wild Things, Rolling Stone cover, December... (Total: 7 Items)

Description

Maurice Sendak (American, 1928-2012)
A Wild Thing Christmas, King of All the Wild Things, Rolling Stone cover, December 30, 1976
Watercolor and ink on paper
19-3/4 x 16 inches (50.2 x 40.6 cm) (sheet)
Signed and dated lower right: M. Sendak 76

PROVENANCE:
The artist;
Private collection, Kingston, New York, acquired from the above.

LITERATURE:
J. Schiller, D. M. David, Maurice Sendak: A Celebration of the Artist and His Work, New York, 2013, pp. 166-67, illustrated.

The preeminent children's book artist of the twentieth century, Maurice Sendak's contribution to the world of children's literature has been profound. With his unique ability to capture the joys, fears, and insecurities of childhood, he has revolutionized the content of children's books, expanding the limits of what is considered appropriate for young people. In recognition of his achievements, Sendak has received numerous awards, including the Hans Christian Andersen International Medal in 1970 for his body of illustration work (he was the first American to be so honored); the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award in 1983 for his "substantial and lasting contribution to children's literature"; and the 1996 National Medal of Arts, awarded by President Bill Clinton. The New York Times reviewer Christopher Lehmann-Haupt wrote, "There is a grandeur and complexity about the pictures that intimidate. They have a quality of nightmare."

Sendak has produced over a dozen books of his own, and illustrated more than seventy stories by other authors. He is well known both for his distinctive illustrations and for his stories, which explore, in unsentimental terms, how children deal with their fears and emotions through fantasy. A Wild Thing Christmas, King of All the Wild Things encapsulates childlike joyfulness and wonder associated with Sendak, and demonstrates his utter mastery at children's book illustration, and exemplifies Sendak's creative genius as one of the greatest storytellers of all time.

Maurice Bernard Sendak was born on June 10, 1928 in Brooklyn, New York, the youngest child of Philip and Sarah (Schindler) Sendak. Before World War I, his parents left their Jewish shtetls (small towns) in Poland to come to the United States, where Philip went to work in Manhattan's garment district. From an early age, Maurice's imagination was fueled by the bedtime stories of his father, a dressmaker. Often melancholic and full of fantasy and mythical symbols, they were spun out of East European Jewish folklore. Because he was a sickly child, stricken with measles and pneumonia at the age of two, and scarlet fever at four, Maurice spent a major portion of his childhood at home drawing pictures of the life he observed outside his window. At the age of nine, he started writing stories with his older brother, Jack, and the two hand-lettered and illustrated their work on pieces of shirt cardboard that they bound together with tape.

In the summer of 1948, Sendak collaborated with his brother Jack, carving and painting six mechanical wooden toys. The brothers brought their creations to the famous New York toy store F.A.O. Schwartz, where store executives admired the toys but felt that they would cost too much to mass-produce. Impressed with Sendak's talent, however, they offered him a job as assistant director of the window-display department, a position he held for the next three years. While working at F.A.O. Schwartz, Sendak enrolled in some night classes at the Art Students League, largely to please his father. During a display of his drawings at the store, F.A.O. Schwartz's book buyer invited Ursula Nordstrom, Harper & Row's children's book editor, to stop by. Captivated by Sendak's sketches, Miss Nordstrom immediately hired him to illustrate Marcel Ayme's Wonderful Farm (1951), his first children's book. Thus began a long and fruitful association, a period that Sendak called one of the happiest times of his life. Then came A Hole Is to Dig, by Ruth Krauss, for which he was awarded The New York Times Best Illustrated Book. Working with Ruth Krauss was an inspiration to him, and he learned how to make text and pictures work with each other, and not against. By now, Sendak's reputation as a children's book illustrator was firmly established.

While Sendak's work was popular, some critics felt that his books were "somewhat derivative." That perception ended abruptly in 1963 with the publication of his Where the Wild Things Are. This highly original work, which remains his best known, features a boy named Max, whose mother sends him to his room without supper for acting like a "wild thing." Max vents his anger by turning his room into a world of wild creatures, which, Sendak has noted, were inspired by the faces of his Jewish relatives.

Where the Wild Things Are marked a turning point in Sendak's career. He felt that all the work he had done up to that point was merely preparation for creating this work. Its publication, for which he received the coveted Caldecott Medal in 1964, confirmed his place as an internationally famous children's book author-illustrator.

A Wild Thing Christmas, alternatively titled, King of All the Wild Things, is a tour de force within Sendak's oeuvre. Created for the December 30, 1976 cover of Rolling Stone Magazine, this masterful illustration features Sendak's most beloved and iconic monster Moishe cheerfully game as he is decorated like a Christmas tree by a couple of human kids and their pup. This issue contains Jonathan Cott's interview "Maurice Sendak-King of all the Wild Things."

The present work, which has resided in one collection since it was acquired by the owner from Sendak himself, is accompanied by a copy of the December 30, 1976 issue of Rolling Stone magazine, as well as the following:

12 Merry Christmas greeting cards from the Museum of Modern Art;
A set of 12 Christmas greeting cards published by Peaceable Kingdom Press;
The City of New York Salutes Maurice Sendak ceremony invitation;
The Art of Maurice Sendak Wall Calendar 2002;
The Maurice Sendak Soundbook vinyl book cover, 1981;
The Art of Maurice Sendak poster, printed in Japan and published by The Bodley Head.


More information about Maurice Sendak. See also: Sendak, Maurice, Maurice Bernard Sendak Artist.

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