Wild Things: The Art of Maurice Sendak

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Wild Things: The Art of Maurice Sendak presents more than 400 artworks created by Maurice Sendak. One of the most versatile artists of the twentieth century, Sendak is best known for picture books, especially the award-winning titles Where the Wild Things Are, In the Night Kitchen, Outside Over There, and Nutshell Library. He also designed theater sets and collaborated on films.

Wild Things is named after Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, the beloved children’s book he authored in 1963 that became a cultural touchstone. The exhibition's title signals to all the beauty, whimsy, and mischief that his art inspired over his 65-year career. Visitors will see unique examples of Sendak’s timeless art, such as the final artworks for Where the Wild Things Are, and get a sense of his extraordinary skill and his deep understanding of the process of creating picture books and designs for the stage, television, and film productions. The show will include a wide array of drawings, paintings, posters, and mockups for books. It will also include set designs for the Where the Wild Things Are opera and the costumes for the live-action, feature-length film.

Alongside Sendak’s work, Wild Things will showcase works by other artists that Sendak collected throughout his life, tracing the origins of his creativity to William Blake, Winsor McCay, Beatrix Potter, George Stubbs, and Walt Disney. Sendak’s collaborations with distinguished directors, composers, writers, and choreographers such as Carroll Ballard, Frank Corsaro, Carole King, Spike Jonze, Tony Kushner, among many others, are also illuminated throughout the exhibition.

Image: Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are, 1963, watercolor, ink, and graphite on paper, 9 3/4 x 22 in. ©The Maurice Sendak Foundation

Max in his wild things suit dancing at night to the full moon — Maurice Sendak, *Where the Wild Things Are,* 1963, watercolor, ink, and graphite on paper, 9 3/4 x 11 in. © The Maurice Sendak Foundation

Maurice Sendak in a green, leafy forest — *Portrait of Maurice Sendak,* 2011. Annie Leibovitz / Trunk Archive

Ink drawings of a young girl playing dress-up in a red dress with her cat — Maurice Sendak, *Rosie and Buttermilk, her Cat*, character studies for *Really Rosie* animation, 1973, watercolor and ink on paper, 13 3/4 x 15 5/8 in. ©The Maurice Sendak Foundation

Wild Things monsters carrying Max on their shoulders while they dance and parade together — Maurice Sendak, *Where the Wild Things Are*, 1963, watercolor and ink on paper, 9 3/4 x 22 in. ©The Maurice Sendak Foundation

Pencil sketch of a large mythical griffon creature lording over a figure in bed — Maurice Sendak, *Drawing for the Griffin and the Minor Canon*, 1963. 15 x 12 in. Courtesy of the Maurice Sendak Foundation. PTL-25666

Pencil sketch of a cartoon bear looking at a drawing of a wild thing posted to a tree — Maurice Sendak, *Little Bear looks at painting of Wild Thing*, 1967. Ink and white-out on paper; 15 x 12 in. Courtesy of the Maurice Sendak Foundation. PTL-25615.

Pencil drawing of a young boy and a lion — Maurice Sendak, *Pierre*, 1962, ink on paper, 4 ¼ x 3 1/2 in. © The Maurice Sendak Foundation

Poster for the Magic Flute depiciting a tropical setting and a children queueing up to a hut — Maurice Sendak, *The Magic Flute,* 1980, poster, 24 x 17 1/2 in. ©The Maurice Sendak Foundation

Book cover with a baby with a pot on its head pretending to be a rooster — Maurice Sendak, *In the Night Kitchen,* watercolor and ink on paper as printed in color in Maurice Sendak, In the Night Kitchen (New York: Harper & Row, 1970)

Watercolor book cover of a man in the grasp of a large polar bear — Maurice Sendak, *My Brother’s Book,* 2010, watercolor on paper, 11 ¾ x 8 7/8, ©The Maurice Sendak Foundation

Gray ink drawing of a child on the floor and a dog at the table — Maurice Sendak, *Higglety Pigglety Pop!,* 1967, ink on paper, 9 ¼ x 7 1/2 in. ©The Maurice Sendak Foundation

Photo of Maurice Sendak in 1994 when he was 66 years old — Photo of Maurice Sendak, 1994. © John Dugdale.

Illustration of a young cloaked girl holding a horn instrument — Maurice Sendak, *Outside Over There,* 1981, watercolor and graphite on paper, page: 15 x 26 in; image: 6 1/8 x 9 3/16. ©The Maurice Sendak Foundation

A drawing of a bunch of kids sitting around a table eating mashed potatoes — Maurice Sendak, *A Hole Is to Dig,* 1952, ink on paper with paste-up lettering,6 ¾ x 5 ½ in. © The Maurice Sendak Foundation

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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.

Generous support is provided by Bank of America, Kent Thiry & Denise O'Leary, 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.