ART OF THE BOOK  
ILLUSTRATION ART ~ SIGNED & RARE BOOKS

Maurice Sendak (1928-2012)

Born in New York in 1928, Sendak grew up in Brooklyn. He has described his childhood as “coloured with memories of village life in Poland, never actually experienced but passed on to me as a persuasive reality by my immigrant parents”   He began his career as an illustrator in 1951 and first achieved major recognition with A Hole Is to Dig (1952), to a text by Ruth Kraus. He began working with colour on Charlotte and the White Horse (1955) and with Kenny’s Window (1956); he began the exploration of the psychological fears and yearnings of childhood which reaches its peak in the now culturally-iconic Where the Wild Things Are, which won the Caldecott Medal in 1964. In 1970 he followed this up with In the Night Kitchen, his first picture book since Hector Protector. This book received a Caldecott Honour citation and was published as Sendak’s international reputation was soaring; he received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal that year for his contributions to children’s literature. He has acknowledged significant inspiration from the sights, sounds, and experiences of his childhood, interpreted through his unique imagination.  The Wild Things were inspired by his aunts and uncles, who “looked like toothy monsters” to the young Sendak, and seemed to threaten to smother him with their attention. His works have been adapted for film and opera, with Sendak himself contributing artistically to the stage sets and the adapted scripts.  In part, this reflects his ongoing interest in film, with a much-awaited featured length film of Where The Wild Things Are released in 2010.