The Art of Maurice Sendak by Selma G. Lanes

The text is by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner, a longtime friend of the artist who is collaborating with him on an American version of the children's opera Brundibar. This strikingly designed volume is overflowing with hundreds of wonderful Sendak illustrations-sketches and final art for children's books, adult book jackets, posters, CD covers, and opera and theater productions from The Nutcracker ballet and The Magic Flute to Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges. Picking up where Selma Lanes's earlier, landmark monograph, The Art of Maurice Sendak, leaves off, this new book traces Sendak's life and work from 1980 to the present, representing two decades filled with projects outside the children's book arena.

His uniquely expressive illustrations, which bring to life a world of fantasy and imagination, have won him both the Hans Christian Andersen Medal and the Caldecott Medal. 'About this title' may belong to another edition of this title.Maurice Sendak is one of the most admired artists in children's literature. The author invites us into the very special world of Maurice Sendak, a place of fantasies and wonderment, a land where adults can be children-and never grow up. The book's rich text is exemplary-based on interviews, conversations, and extensive research by Sendak's close friend Selma Lanes. Three huge fold-outs make for an extra-special treat. Virtually every page contains another Sendak gem-be it a quick sketch, an exquisite portrait of his mother or sister, or the preliminary drawings from Where the Wild Things Are. Always the artistic adventurer, Sendak experiments with many different forms-from the fairy-tale-like pen-and-ink drawings of Higglety Pigglety Pop! to the beautiful watercolor pieces that illustrate Mr. Even a stuffy physics textbook from 1947 is given the Sendak touch, as atoms, molecules, and chain reactions take on the form of people jiving and swinging. He was talented from the cradle, and his early works from the 1940s are given due recognition here-reflecting his fascination with the small intricacies of being human, and his devilish sense of humor. Sendak, best known for the charming and timeless Where the Wild Things Are, never fails to amuse and astonish with his creative wizardry.

Page after page of lavish full-color illustrations and black-and-whites from one of America's best-loved children's artists adorn this hefty volume. In a nutshell, The Art of Maurice Sendak is simply stunning.

The Art of Maurice Sendak by Selma G. Lanes