Maurice Sendak
was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1928 into a family of Jewish Polish immigrants.
In his teens he studied at the Art Students League of New York, and while
still a student he created illustrations for a 1947 textbook titled Atomics for the Millions.
These unremarkable images gave no indication whatsoever of the illustrator he would become.
But his considerably more expressive pen and ink illustrations for The Wonderful
Farm by Marcel Aymé were published in 1951, and it was this commission which really set
his career as an illustrator of stories for children in motion.
Good Shabbos Everybody, written by Robert Garvey and featuring loose but
expressive Sendak line illustrations and spot colours was published later in the same year.
And in a display of incredible creative
productivity he illustrated 18 more between 1952 and 1956.
With so many in such a short timespan all I can do here is
highlight a couple such as 1952's A Hole is to Dig by Ruth Krauss,which
featured a series of particularly endearing and amusing simple monochrome spot illustrations.
And in the following year he created bold gestural 2 colour line drawings to
illustrate The Giant Story, written by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers.
But most significantly it was in 1956 that his first book as both author and illustrator
was published. This was Kenny's Window, a remarkably assured and evocative story for
which he produced a series of wistful dreamlike drawings, with sepia tinted overprinted colour.
Only a year later he produced another similarly fanciful story titled Very Far Away,
using the same distinctive stylistic approach.
It was also in 1957 Sendak illustrated the book Little Bear, written by Else Holmelund Minarik,
and the popular success of this collaboration led to several
more equally charming stories in a series which was published in subsequent years.
All these books were a clear demonstration of how relatively few words - when visualised by
the right choice of illustrator - could create a truly immersive experience for the reader.
The Sign On Rosie's Door was his next solo venture, published in 1960,
and this was another project which utilised expressive line work in conjunction with
tasteful use of 2 heavily textured spot colours. And although Rosie was the central
character it was the first of his own creations to feature what could be called an ensemble cast.
In 1962 he broke away from this stylistic approach when he produced some atypical
but effective impressionistically painted images
for the book Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present, written by Charlotte Zolotow.
And in the same year he published his own collection of 4 small
format picture books titled The Nutshell Library.
But the defining moment for Sendak's symbiotic written and visual creativity
was undoubtedly with the publication of Where The Wild Things Are in 1963.
This remarkable and in many regards seminal book was an instant success
and is deservedly considered to be a timeless classic of the picture book genre.
It contained only a few dozen carefully chosen words but its true narrative triumph was in the
mesmerising densely crosshatched pen and wash colour pictures which illuminated the text.
Sendak took a horizontal linear compositional approach to many of the images,
and the combination of atmospheric depictions of Max's journey and the scenery of the island,
the riotously absurd narrative and endearing grotesque physical nature of the wild things
themselves greatly contributed to the books enduring success.
And of course it's still very much in print as I write this some 60 years later.
Following this book's unprecedented success in 1965 he published his illustrated visualisation of
two nursery rhymes, Hector Protector and As I went Over the Water in what had by now had come to be a
highly distinctive and recognisable crosshatch style and approach to characterisation.The
book was clear evidence of the fanciful imagination at the heart of all Sendak's
work which enabled him to go beyond mere visual translation of the text
In the following year he illustrated the considerably less whimsical
Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories, written by Isaac Bashevis Singer,
and the monochromes he produced for this book were possessed of remarkable levels
of tonally controlled crosshatching and plausible solidity in the figure work.
Sendak published his own story Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life in 1967.
And As with the previous years Zlateh the Goat this was another exercise in
monochrome which displayed The same level of intricate crosshatch on a
series of carefully posed agreeably surreal full page illustrations.
In 1970 he took a break from crosshatch with In The Night Kitchen,
and used a flatter, more graphic approach,
which resonated with similar qualities to Winsor McCay's Little Nemo in Slumberland.
This fantasy ran on similar lines to the Wild Things, but instead of Max travelling
across the sea, this stories' protagonist Mickey ends up in a surreal kitchen world
inhabited by three chefs, all of whom are depicted as the comic actor Oliver Hardy.
But although the book was a well deserved popular success it also gained some notoriety
when it ran into problems of censorship because of Sendak's images of Mickey without clothes.
And despite the obvious whimsical innocence of Sendak's intent the book has apparently
since been banned in libraries and bookshops in several American states.
In 1973 he returned to black and white crosshatch for The Juniper Tree and Other
Tales from Grimm, published in 2 volumes. In this series of images the characters
were formally posed and densely packed into the claustrophobic compositions. And consequently
this version echoed the more sinister and malevolent aspects of these medieval folk tales.
There followed a period in which it seems he was more occupied with
various animated and even stage productions of some of his work,
but in 1981 he returned to book writing and illustration with Outside Over There.This
story of a girl's travels and adventures in search of her little sister who has been kidnapped by
goblins could with some justification be called another classic of its kind.
The frequently surreal and rather unsettling pen and wash images are all remarkably detailed
and well conceived, harking back to the fairy tale illystrations of the golden age,
Throughout the 1980s and into the 90s Sendak continued his involvement with theatre,
and in 1984 he not only worked on set designs for a production of Tchaikovsky's ballet The
Nutcracker, but also illustrated the original story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,
written in 1816 by E.T.A. Hoffmann, and he brought the text to life
with a series of highly imaginative and frequently complex colour illustrations.
1988's book Dear Mili was Sendak's visualisation
of a previously unknown Wilhelm Grimm tale which had not been discovered until 1983.
As with the earlier Outside Over There this was another traditionally styled masterpiece
of compelling narrative illustration which not only depicted the written
sequence of events of this simplistic folk tale but added visual touches and
embellishments to further enhance the readers involvement with the story.
And although a far more overtly sinister tale than the Wild Things this book made similarly
memorable creative use of luxuriant overgrown environments in which to place his characters.
In 1993, Sendak published We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy, an imaginative and contemporary
visualisation of two verses originally published as part of the Mother Goose Rhymes.
And in the book Sendak reflected on contemporary ills such as homelessness, poverty and urban
blight in a way not usually seen in work aimed at children. But despite his less than comical
take on these verses he nevertheless directed his images to an optimistic and hopeful conclusion.
The Miami Giant which was a collaboration with the writer Arthur Yorinks, was published in 1995.
This was by contrast a broadly comic tale with suitably absurd illustrations about
an Italian explorer who mistakenly heads west in
search of China and discovers a tribe of dancing giants in Florida instead..
In the same year he published his illustrated edition of Herman Melville's book Pierre or
the Ambiguities, which was very much not for children,
and this proved to be his least successful project in commercial terms at least.
Sendak's last book of the 20th century was his
collaboration with the writer James Marshall, titled Swine Lake in 1999.
For this book he produced a series of ralatively simplistic but comedic line and wash illustrations
which parodied the Tchaikovsky ballet Swan lake with dancing pigs and a big bad wolf.
In 2003 Sendak once again combined his love of books and theatre when
he worked with the playwright Tony Kushner to create an illustrated book
version and stage production of Hans Krása's children's opera Brundibár.
In 2006 he collaborated again with Arthur Yorinks on the book Mommy?
which was Sendak's only foray into the pop-up book format.
The resulting blend of silliness and paper engineering added greatly to the books appeal.
In 2007 Eugene Glynn, who had been Sendak's partner for half a century died,
and understandably Sendak was devastated by the loss.
But he carried on working and his final book, about the young pig Bumble-Ardy,
was published in 2012. Only a few months later,
following a remarkable lifetime of prolific creativity Maurice Sendak died at the age of 83.
Since his death many of his books have been reprinted and they evidently continue to
resonate with kids and their parents. Despite not having children of his own the evidence strongly
suggests he knew how to keep them amused. In an interview he stated 'You cannot write
for children They're much too complicated. You can only write books that are of interest to them. '
And although as I write this its only been a decade since he died I feel confident in
asserting that his well earned reputation as an important figure in the history and
evolution of children's illustrated literature is pretty much guaranteed.