Sendak, Maurice Bernard

Sendak, Maurice Bernard, 1928–, American writer and illustrator of children's books, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. His beautifully drawn, wildly imaginative, often fantastic, and sometimes controversial illustrations appear in dozens of children's books, including The Sign on Rosie's Door (1960) and Where the Wild Things Are (1963), which he also wrote, as well as In the Night Kitchen (1970), Outside over There (1981), and We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy (1993). He has also illustrated a number of adult works, e.g., Melville's Pierre (1995). Since the mid-1980s Sendak has devoted an increasing amount of his time to theatrical work. He has designed a number of musical productions, including Mozart's The Magic Flute, a musical version of his own Where the Wild Things Art, the Metropolitan Opera's production of Prokofiev's Love for Three Oranges (1985), and the Holocaust-themed A Selection (1999), created with the Pilobolus Dance Theater. Based on a 1938 children's opera by Hans Krása performed (1942) in the Terezin concentration camp, Sendak's picture book Brundibar (2003), with text by Tony Kushner, was also produced as an opera designed by Sendak, with a libretto by Kushner (2003). The two also collaborated on a version of Martinů's 1937 opera, Comedy on the Bridge. Sendak also is the artistic director of his own theater company, the Night Kitchen.

Bibliography

See S. G. Lanes, The Art of Maurice Sendak (1980, repr. 1998); T. Kushner, The Art of Maurice Sendak: 1980 to the Present (2003); studies by A. Sonheim (1991) and J. Cech (1995).