DENVER — The Denver Art Museum has opened up a new exhibition over the weekend to honor the work of Maurice Sendak, the beloved U.S. author and illustrator of children's books.
"Wild Things: The Art of Maurice Sendak" presents more than 400 artworks created by Maurice Sendak, author and illustrator of popular children’s books such as "Where the Wild Things Are."
"At the end, they ended up to be books for children," said Cristoph Heinrich, the director of Denver Art Museum. "I think when they were written, they were mostly written for himself, they were mostly written as artworks. And maybe that's why they still are relevant. Maybe that's as well why they still are very interesting for adults.”
The new exhibition showcases the entire catalogue of Sendak’s career. It begins with early paintings, self-portraits of the artist himself. It then moves on to sketches, illustrations from his numerous books, costumes from the "Where the Wild Things Are" movie, and even decorations and scenery from operas that Sendak helped produce and create art for.
“He was incredibly versatile as an artist, and created these very different styles, different approaches, which makes it very fun, and makes it rich,” said Heinrich. “Sendak's work continued to be interesting, continue to be innovative, and often in his stories, he touches all the things that we deal with every day, love and life and courage and resilience, death is a topic in his books, and in that regard, I think they really talk about the human condition.”
Much of work on display comes from the Maurice Sendak Foundation, which continues to publish Sendak’s books to this day.
“Sendak, I guess, never threw any piece of paper away,” said Heinrich. “They have thousands of sketches, studies, and little, small doodling. It's so incredibly wonderful to see all of this. And they gave us access to their treasures, and we were able to build a show which shows the many facets of Maurice Sendak’s life.”
“He would be so touched to see his whole life displayed on these walls,” said Lynn Caponera, who knew Sendak personally and later became the executive director of the Maurice Sendak Foundation. “It goes from the beginning of his career all the way to the last image he did a couple of days before he went in the hospital to die.”
The museum wanted to not only highlight Sendak’s illustrations, but the books his work is found in.
“He would be very touched by the fact that what's showcased are the books,” said Caponera. “You see the artwork and then you see the books underneath them. That really just intensifies the notion that these books are the pieces of artwork… It's an amazing exhibition. I can't say how proud we are to be a part of this.”
