Maurice Sendak retrospective in San Francisco is timely, indeed
Dixie Reid, MCT
Issue date: 10/21/09 Section: Entertainment
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After the sensational 1932 kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindburgh's infant son, 4-year-old Maurice was terrified he would be snatched from his bed and insisted his father sleep in his room. Later on, he became quite ill with pneumonia and scarlet fever, and, on the morning of his bar mitzvah, the boy learned his Polish grandfather had died in the Holocaust.
Childhood fears, frustrations, insecurities and sorrows stayed with Sendak throughout his life, and he wove those emotions into the picture books he wrote for children.
"When you hide another story in a story, that's the story I am telling the children," Sendak once said. "It's the two levels of writing-one visible, one invisible-that fascinate me most. There's a mystery there-a clue, a nut, a bolt, and if I put it together, I find me."
Sendak, now 81, has lived to see his classic 1963 storybook "Where the Wild Things Are" adapted as a live-action movie, directed by Spike Jonze. It's scheduled to open in theaters Friday.
And his life's work is the subject of a major retrospective, "There's a Mystery There: Sendak on Sendak," at San Francisco's Contemporary Jewish Museum through Jan. 19.
On display are original watercolors and drawings from more than 40 of Sendak's books, including "In the Night Kitchen," "Chicken Soup With Rice" and "Kenny's Window," along with his sketches, work materials and extensive video interviews on touch-screen monitors.
The exhibition was organized by the Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadelphia, the only repository of Sendak's work in the world.
"He's illustrated 100 books," says Patrick Rodgers, the Rosenbach's traveling exhibitions coordinator, "and while he usually only writes for children, he's illustrated for (Leo) Tolstoy and a lot of other greats in mainstream literature.
"So, what we wanted to do with this show is to treat him holistically, to have the Tolstoy pictures and the 'Where the Wild Things Are' pictures there. Every piece of Sendak."
As a children's author, Sendak subscribes to the idea that make-believe is essential for surviving childhood.
In "Where the Wild Things Are," Max's mother is fed up with her son's loud shenanigans, and calls him "Wild Thing!" And when he shouts, "I'll eat you up!" she sends him to bed without supper.
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