Maurice Sendak. American children’s literature writer and illustrator .
Biographical summary
He was born on June 10, 1928 in Brooklyn , New York ( United States ) to a family of Jewish immigrants from Poland . His father was a tailor and his mother a housewife.
A poor student, he suffered from several illnesses which kept him at home for many hours painting. He never revealed his homosexuality to his parents. Since he was nine, he has been creating and illustrating children’s books with the help of his brother.
Contract and publications
Harpers hired him to illustrate the children’s book ‘The Wonderful Farm’ ( 1951 ), written by Marcel Aymé . He achieved great prestige as an illustrator for his work on ‘Poking a Hole’ ( 1952 ) by Ruth Krauss . In 1956 ‘Kenny’s Window’ was published, a book that he wrote and illustrated.
He rose to fame when Where the Wild Things Are ( 1963 ) was published , the first in a series that included Kitchen at Night ( 1970 ) and Get Out of There ( 1981 ). In 1980 he designed the sets for a version of The Magic Flute for the Houston Opera. In 2003 he illustrated a book based on the opera Brundibar, composed in 1938 by the Jewish Hans Krasa and performed by the children of the Terezin concentration camp.
Death
Sendak died on May 8, 2012 at the age of 83 in a hospital in Dandbury, Connecticut , due to complications from a stroke, very close to his home in Ridgefield, where he had been drawing with his dogs since the death in 2007 of his boyfriend, the psychiatrist Eugene Glynn, his partner for more than 40 years.
Where the Wild Things Are
Where the Wild Things Are is criticized for its scenes of violence and for questioning parental authority. It sold more than 2.5 million copies in the United States and was adapted into an opera, with sets and costumes designed by the author. Some psychologists expressed reservations about its effects and some parents stopped buying his works for fear of causing childhood trauma in their children.
Awards and decorations
In 1970 he won the International Hans Christian Andersen Medal for best illustrator. In 2003 he was awarded the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Prize. In 1964 he was awarded the Caldecott Medal. He illustrated more than 100 books by authors such as Hans Christian Andersen and will be remembered as the cartoonist who revolutionised children’s books.