Author: Ruth Krauss (1901–1993)
Illustrator: Maurice Sendak
A Hole Is to Dig, 1st Edition
1952
Book
New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1952. © 1952 by Maurice Sendak
The First Success
One of Sendak’s first professional opportunities was illustrating A Hole Is to Dig, by acclaimed poet and children’s book author Ruth Krauss.
The book was unique at the time for its reliance on children as its source. Krauss’s text was not a story with a plot but instead a series of definitions she had collected from children.
A Hole Is to Dig became a success, and Sendak’s illustrations got rave reviews. The book launched Sendak’s career as a freelance illustrator and made him a major figure among children’s book artists in the 1950s. It was also the beginning of many more fruitful collaborations with Ruth Krauss.
Author: Ruth Krauss (1901–1993)
Illustrator: Maurice Sendak
A Very Special House, 1st Edition
1953
Book
New York: Harper & Brothers, 1953. © 1953 by Maurice Sendak
Collaboration with Ruth Krauss
A Hole Is to Dig was the first of eight books on which Sendak collaborated with Ruth Krauss, a writer of children’s books and poems for adults. Krauss and her husband, Crockett Johnson (best known for his comic series Barnaby and his book Harold and the Purple Crayon), befriended Sendak and became early mentors. Sendak later referred to his projects with Krauss as his education in bookmaking. “She was my school,” he said. Krauss encouraged Sendak to change styles with every book so as not to become boring or cliché.
Interested in anthropology, Krauss worked on a book about gender roles and how people learn them. According to Sendak, “Ruth was way ahead of women’s lib. She wouldn’t let me get away with any myths about what little boys did and what little girls did.”
Author: Ruth Strauss
Illustrator: Maurice Sendak
I'll Be You and You Be Me 1st edition
1954
Book
New York: Harper & Brothers, 1953. © 1953 by Maurice Sendak
I’ll Be You and You Be Me, 1954
Maurice Sendak remembered that his third collaboration with Ruth Krauss “was great fun because every page was an experiment, every page we changed our minds. And yet the book hangs together in a way that’s fascinating because it’s the two of us. And it’s almost like a love book.”
Author: Ruth Strauss
Illustrator: Maurice Sendak
Charlotte and the White Horse 1st edition
1955
Book
New York: Harper & Brothers, 1955. © 1955 by Maurice Sendak
Charlotte and the White Horse, 1955
Sendak’s first book in full color tells a fantasy story of a little girl and her little white horse, Milky Way. It shows Sendak’s fondness for William Blake’s small books and Marc Chagall’s paintings as well as folkloric illustrations from Eastern Europe. Sendak called it “a very pretty book and very simple book.”
Exhibition Guide Chapters
Wild Things: The Art of Maurice Sendak has been co-organized by the Denver Art Museum and the Columbus Museum of Art in partnership with The Maurice Sendak Foundation. It is curated by Jonathan Weinberg, PhD, Curator and Director of Research at The Maurice Sendak Foundation, and Christoph Heinrich, Frederick and Jan Mayer Director of the Denver Art Museum.
This exhibition is presented by the Clarence V. Laguardia Foundation with additional support provided by the Tom Taplin Jr. and Ted Taplin Endowment, Bank of America, Jana and Fred Bartlit, Bernstein Private Wealth Management, Kathie and Keith Finger, Lisë Gander and Andy Main, Wendy and Bob Kaufman, the Kristin and Charles Lohmiller Exhibitions Fund, Sally Cooper Murray, John Brooks Incorporated, Kent Thiry & Denise O'Leary, Judi Wagner, an anonymous donor, the donors to the Annual Fund Leadership Campaign, and the residents who support the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). Promotional support is provided by 5280 Magazine and CBS Colorado.
