Let the wild rumpus start!
Where the Wild Things Are
1963
Book
New York: Harper & Row, 1963. © 1963 by Maurice Sendak.
Wild Things
Although he had been working on children’s books for more than a decade, Maurice Sendak felt he had finally found his true voice with Where the Wild Things Are and the character Max.
Max’s journey underwent a long gestation from an initial fantasy sketch in 1953, on view nearby, to the final book. This exhibition is the first time since Sendak painted these pictures that a large audience has gotten the chance to admire all the original paintings for the book together and to appreciate the vibrancy of Sendak’s cross-hatched line and the richness of his color palette.
Initially, some critics thought Wild Things was too scary for children. But millions disagreed. Sendak won the prestigious Caldecott Medal in 1964. To date, the book has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and has been translated into over 40 languages.
The book also spurred several offshoots—posters, an opera, an advertisement campaign, a Hollywood film. Many of them starred the bearded Wild Thing Maurice later called Moishe, his family nickname.
Dummy for Where the Wild Horses Are
1955
Watercolor and ink on paper
© The Maurice Sendak Foundation
Several years before Wild Things was published, Sendak created this “series of tiny little episodes of a boy’s adventure,” which he then called Where the Wild Horses Are. There are few words in this early effort, as, he said, “I wanted to get the effect of a series of animated drawings just dancing across the page.”
Who the Wild Things Are
According to Maurice Sendak, the title of his most famous book comes from the Yiddish phrase vilde chaya, or “wild beast.” Sendak explained, “It’s what almost every Jewish mother or father says to their offspring, ‘You’re acting like a vilde chaya! Stop it!’” He also claimed that the monsters of Where the Wild Things Are were inspired by childhood memories of his relatives, who would pinch his cheeks and, like the Wild Things, exclaim, “We’ll eat you up—we love you so!”
Although the Wild Things aren’t named in the book, Sendak eventually had to give them each their own identity as the story expanded into other formats, like opera. Some of the names may have come from his relatives, and one—Moishe—bore Maurice’s own nickname.
Final Art for A Kiss for Little Bear
1967
Ink on paper
© The Maurice Sendak Foundation
In the time since he started the Little Bear series, Sendak had become wildly popular, and his name had become synonymous with Where the Wild Things Are. For the fifth book of the Little Bear series, he couldn’t resist giving one of his beloved monsters a cameo appearance.
Where the Wild Things Are and Higglety Pigglety Pop! Glyndebourne Opera Poster
1985
Poster
© The Maurice Sendak Foundation
The Théâtre Royale de la Monnaie in Brussels commissioned Sendak to design an opera based on Where the Wild Things Are, with music by the British composer Oliver Knussen. It premiered in November 1980. Knussen delivered an expressive composition, turning the turmoil of childhood into a dramatic, highly emotional score. However, performers were barely able to sing in Sendak’s imaginatively designed but unwieldy costumes. In a second production in 1984, silent actors operated the costumes while the singers—now unconfined, their voices unmuffled—were positioned offstage.
Final Art for Where the Wild Things Are and Higglety Pigglety Pop! Poster
1985
Watercolor and ink on paper
© The Maurice Sendak Foundation
In this poster for a double-bill performance, Sendak fused imagery from operatic adaptations of two of his books, Where the Wild Things Are and Higglety Pigglety Pop! The 1984 production at the Glyndebourne Opera in England came four years after the premiere of the Wild Things opera in Brussels.
Study for Mama Monster Costume for Where the Wild Things Are Opera
1979–83
Watercolor, ink, and pencil on paper
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York: Bequest of Maurice Sendak, 2013. © The Maurice Sendak Foundation
For the operatic adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are, Sendak expanded the story and created new characters, including the Mama Monster. He recalled, “I was terrified of the vacuum cleaner, untraditionally. I mean people sit around saying … ‘don’t let kids do that, it’ll be too frightening’ but who would have ever imagined ‘don’t let a kid in a room with a vacuum cleaner!’ But when my mother plugged the vacuum cleaner … and the thing blew up visibly, and the sight of that bag swelling used to just drive me right up the wall, literally.”
Sony Metreon Wall Panel Design
Before 1999
Pencil on tracing paper
© The Maurice Sendak Foundation
In the late 1990s, Sendak was asked to design an indoor play area for children for an ambitious entertainment center and cinema, the Sony Metreon, in San Francisco. Sendak based his designs on Where the Wild Things Are. A restaurant themed after another one of his books, In the Night Kitchen, was next to the playground. The complex opened in June 1999 and sold in 2006, when the playground was taken apart.
Eye from Macy’s Float for Where the Wild Things Are
1998–2002
Polyurethane
© The Maurice Sendak Foundation
As part of its “Wild Things Are Happening” advertising campaign, Bell Atlantic commissioned Sendak to design a Wild Thing balloon for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1998. When it was dismantled in 2002, the organizers presented this fragment of the eye to the artist.
Bell Atlantic: Wild Things Are Happening
1997
Poster
© The Maurice Sendak Foundation
Sendak’s “Wild Things Are Happening” advertising campaign, for the telecommunications giant Bell Atlantic, came 33 years after he published his most famous book. To soften its image as a mega corporation, Bell Atlantic enlisted Sendak’s gentle giants to guide children in a range of activities that were meant to communicate that the company would help customers navigate the new, emerging world of technology.
Poster for Where the Wild Things Are Movie
2009
Poster
Spike Jonze, who directed the 2009 film adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are, said of working with Maurice Sendak, “He basically gave me three rules, ‘I want you to make it personal. I want you to make it dangerous. And I won’t want you to pander to children. And if you do those three things then that’s all I care about … I completely support anything you do.’”
Author Dave Eggers, who cowrote the screenplay, said, “This is one of the main things that we talked about for years with the movie, was that kids are animals. They are feral beasts. They need to be given space to be wild and crazy … and pretend to be sword fighters, and pretend to be pirates, and pretend to be anything.”
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.
