Where The Wild Things Are: King Max

Where The Wild Things Are: King Max art by Maurice Sendak

Where The Wild Things Are: King Max


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Artist: Maurice Sendak
Medium: Lithograph print on Acid-free Paper
Size: 20" x 6" (510mm x 165mm)
Date: 1963
Code: SendakTent

This is a print.

A beautiful large full colour print of this classic image.

Written and illustrated in 1963 by Maurice Sendak, 'Where The Wild Things Are' is one of the most popular picture books ever published. The book has been adapted into an animated short, an Opera, and a motion picture, and the picture book itself is still in print over 50 years after it's initial publication.

This gorgeous print was published in 1971 as an edition specially re-photographed from the original artwork held at the Sendak Archives at the Rosenbach Museum & Library.

The result is this fabulous collector's edition panoramic print presenting Sendak's entire painting, as opposed to having to see it printed with the gutter of the book in the centre of the image.

Copyright 1963 printed on reverse.

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  • Artist Biography
    Maurice Bernard Sendak (10 June 1928 - 8 May 2012)
    Maurice Sendak was an American illustrator and renowned writer of children's books. He became widely known for his book Where the Wild Things Are, first published in 1963. Born to Polish-Jewish parents, his childhood was affected by the death of many of his family members during the Holocaust. Sendak also wrote works such as In the Night Kitchen, Outside Over There, and illustrated more than 80 books by other authors including the Little Bear books by Else Holmelund Minarik.

    Later in his career Sendak collaborated with Carole King on the musical Really Rosie and has done much other work for TV, Opera and the stage.

    Sendak gained international acclaim after writing and illustrating Where the Wild Things Are. It features Max, a boy who "rages against his mother for being sent to bed without any supper". The book's depictions of fanged monsters concerned some parents when it was first published, as his characters were somewhat grotesque in appearance. Before Where the Wild Things Are, Sendak was best known for illustrating Else Holmelund Minarik's Little Bear series of books.

    Sendak later recounted the reaction of a fan:
    A little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children's letters – sometimes very hastily – but this one I lingered over. I sent him a card and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, 'Dear Jim: I loved your card.' Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said: 'Jim loved your card so much he ate it.' That to me was one of the highest compliments I've ever received. He didn't care that it was an original Maurice Sendak drawing or anything. He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.

    When Sendak saw a manuscript of Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories, the first children's book by Isaac Bashevis Singer, he offered to illustrate the book. It was first published in 1966 and received a Newbery Honor. Sendak was delighted and enthusiastic about the collaboration. He once wryly remarked that his parents were "finally" impressed by their youngest child when he collaborated with Singer.

    His book In the Night Kitchen, originally issued in 1970, has often been subjected to censorship for its drawings of a young boy prancing naked through the story. The book has been challenged in several American states including Illinois, New Jersey, Minnesota, and Texas.

    His 1981 book Outside Over There is the story of a girl, Ida, and her sibling jealousy and responsibility. Her father is away and so Ida is left to watch her baby sister, much to her dismay. Her sister is kidnapped by goblins and Ida must go off on a magical adventure to rescue her. At first, she is not really eager to get her sister and nearly passes her sister right by when she becomes absorbed in the magic of the quest. In the end, she rescues her baby sister, destroys the goblins, and returns home committed to caring for her sister until her father returns home.

    Sendak was an early member of the National Board of Advisors of the Children's Television Workshop during the development stages of the Sesame Street television series. He also adapted his book Bumble Ardy into an animated sequence for the series, with Jim Henson as the voice of Bumble Ardy. He wrote and designed three other animated stories for the series: Seven Monsters (which never aired), Up & Down, and Broom Adventures.

    Sendak produced an animated television production based on his work titled Really Rosie, featuring the voice of Carole King, which was broadcast in 1975 and is available on video (usually as part of video compilations of his work). An album of the songs was also produced. He contributed the opening segment to Simple Gifts, a Christmas collection of six animated shorts shown on PBS TV in 1977 and later issued on VHS in 1993. He adapted his book Where the Wild Things Are for the stage in 1979.

    Additionally, he designed sets for many operas and ballets, including the award-winning (1983) Pacific Northwest Ballet production of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, Glyndebourne Festival Opera's productions of Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges (1982), Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges and L'heure espagnole (1987) and Oliver Knussen's adaptation of Sendak's own Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life (1985), Houston Grand Opera's productions of Mozart's The Magic Flute (1981) and Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel (1997), Los Angeles County Music Center's 1990 production of Mozart's Idomeneo, and the New York City Opera's productions of Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen (1981), and Mozart's The Goose of Cairo (1984).

    In 1993 Sendak published the picture book, We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy. Later in the 1990s, Sendak approached playwright Tony Kushner to write a new English version of the Czech composer Hans Krása's children's Holocaust opera Brundibár. Kushner wrote the text for Sendak's illustrated book of the same name, published in 2003. The book was named one of The New York Times Book Review's 10 Best Illustrated Books of 2003.

    In 2003, Chicago Opera Theatre produced Sendak and Kushner's adaptation of Brundibár. In 2005, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, in collaboration with Yale Repertory Theatre and Broadway's New Victory Theater, produced a substantially reworked version of the Sendak-Kushner adaptation.

    In 2004 Sendak worked with the Shirim Klezmer Orchestra in Boston on their project Pincus and the Pig: A Klezmer Tale. This Klezmer version of Sergei Prokofiev's famous musical story for children, Peter and the Wolf featured Maurice Sendak as the narrator. He also illustrated the cover art.

    Sendak also created the children's television program Seven Little Monsters.

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£250.00
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