Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

What will be lost when Sendak leaves

For a rare-book aficionado interested in seeing the tiny handmade dummy books Maurice Sendak fashioned to try out ideas, or for a casual fan curious about the Sendak inside jokes that appeared in early versions of well-known books before disappearing on the way to the publisher, the best place to go for decades has been 2008 Delancey Place in Philadelphia.

Final drawing, "Mr. Rabbit & the Lovely Present," watercolor on board. The Rosenbach's Sendak trove is huge and varied, with final and preliminary drawings, dummy books, storyboards. (Estate of Maurice Sendak, 1962)
Final drawing, "Mr. Rabbit & the Lovely Present," watercolor on board. The Rosenbach's Sendak trove is huge and varied, with final and preliminary drawings, dummy books, storyboards. (Estate of Maurice Sendak, 1962)Read more

For a rare-book aficionado interested in seeing the tiny handmade dummy books Maurice Sendak fashioned to try out ideas, or for a casual fan curious about the Sendak inside jokes that appeared in early versions of well-known books before disappearing on the way to the publisher, the best place to go for decades has been 2008 Delancey Place in Philadelphia.

It has been, in fact, the only place to see a great many specific items that Sendak began placing at the Rosenbach Museum and Library, a treasure house of literary rarities, in 1968. According to an agreement signed a year later, the author and illustrator could have recalled them at any point on just five days' notice. But year after year, no such notice came - until the end of July this year, when his estate notified the museum that it is recalling the entire Sendak Collection.

As a result, the Rosenbach will lose more than 10,000 items, or about 98 percent of its Sendak materials, to a proposed new museum and study center in Sendak's home in Ridgefield, Conn.

Some members of the Rosenbach circle won't be sorry. "There have been visitors, and members and trustees, who took the position that Sendak dumbed the place down," Rosenbach director Derick Dreher said recently. " '[James] Joyce is great, but why do you have to have that kiddie illustrator?' "

But anyone who dismisses Sendak as a lightweight isn't picking up on the sly art of social commentary and other bits of adult messaging he limned in cute.

"Sendak's work channels the old masters in a very pronounced way, so his collection is something that made me feel at home from my first days at the Rosenbach," said Dreher, whose own thesis was on Albrecht Dürer contemporary Peter Vischer the Younger. "More important, it's been very rewarding for me to try to share that sense of wonder with the public through a variety of exhibitions and programs over the years, particularly ones that tried to paint Sendak as a kind of 'modern old master' rather than just a 'beloved kiddie-book illustrator,' which latter term he rightly hated."

"It's a collection lots of people have drawn inspiration from in a variety of fields," said Patrick Rodgers, the Rosenbach's Sendak curator. "We've had dozens of researchers study the Sendak deposit over the years, from costume designers and dancers to professional illustrators and art historians.

"His books, particularly the Little Bear series, helped a generation of kids learn how to read. His later works dealt with the Holocaust in ways that had never been imagined in picture books. And all this is to say nothing about how his trilogy alone," Where the Wild Things Are, In the Night Kitchen, and Outside Over There, "changed the landscape of children's illustrated literature."

Indeed, the Rosenbach is rarely without a Sendak exhibition. The current show in the Sendak Gallery (the name will change), which remains up through November, explores him in the 1960s. It features two highly popular (and sometimes banned) books. In the Night Kitchen consistently ranks high on the American Library Association's list of "100 most frequently challenged books" for at one point showing its protagonist nude. Where the Wild Things Are won the 1964 Caldecott Medal and sold 16 million copies, but set off an admonishment by Bruno Bettelheim. Writing in Ladies' Home Journal, the University of Chicago psychologist declared aspects of the story so dark as to "increase the desertion fears of children." In fact, he had not actually read the book.

The Rosenbach collection from which the two books were drawn is huge and varied. Catalogued are 7,029 works owned by the Sendak estate and 401 gifts to the Rosenbach from Sendak or others, or purchased over the years. These include final drawings, preliminary drawings, color separations, dummy books, storyboards, lettering, layouts, and other pieces.

Still more sit uncataloged: manuscripts and typescripts, correspondence, proofs, Xeroxes/reproductions, paste-ups and other production materials, first editions, and various ephemera.

They add up to an additional 3,200 books, manuscripts, and proofs owned by the Sendak estate, plus 200 owned by the Rosenbach. "The upshot is that there are well over 10,200 original and printed pieces in the Sendak deposit, and about 600 original and printed pieces owned by the Rosenbach," said Rodgers.

Though the collection is prized, its monetary value is unknown. "I'm not sure how to approach that because relatively few of Sendak's book illustrations have gone to market, so even searching for comparables is difficult," Rodgers said. "Most of what has shown up on the market has been poster artwork, prelims, and sketches, etc. - very little finished work in watercolor. I think it's logical to assume that Wild Things artwork alone would have an exceptionally high monetary value, given the book's iconic status, and with 21 final watercolor drawings for the book, that would add up to a pretty imposing figure."

What is clear is that in terms of clarity, detail, and vibrancy, seeing Sendak originals is a very different experience from seeing the images in finished book form. In a climate-controlled room snug with shelves and tall, moveable stacks, the riches quicken the pulse of anyone, child or parent, who is part of the Chicken Soup With Rice generations. Of the 90 to 100 books of which Sendak was author, illustrator or both, the Rosenbach has first editions of all and original artwork for most.

There are scores of foreign editions of Where the Wild Things Are and preliminary ideas for it that were never realized; a dummy for Higglety Pigglety Pop! Or, There Must Be More to Life no bigger than a matchbook but just as detailed as the full-size version; sketches for Shadrach, a 1953 book with Dutch-born writer Meindert DeJong in a style inspired by Rembrandt and Dürer; original artwork from We Are All in the Dumps With Jack and Guy, two-plus decades old yet crackling with significance to anyone concerned about AIDS, homelessness, the 1 percent, and inequality.

"I really wanted to do a show about the book because it's so timely," Rodgers said of We Are All in the Dumps. The Rosenbach has not only early drafts and original art but also the late-1980s news photograph of homeless children that inspired the book. "He would hold onto things for years and make use of them much later. One of the cool things about the collection is that not only is the artwork together, but so is the archive, so you can go back and find source material and look for the imagery."

Making connections between Sendak and the rest of the collection, both Dreher and Rodgers said, has always been a challenge. "But when people get it, they get obsessive about it," Rodgers said.

Now they will have to go to a small town in Connecticut to make connections. Leaders from the Rosenbach and the Free Library of Philadelphia - the two merged in 2013 - are not surprised to see the Sendak material leaving. In visits with him in his last years, Rosenbach staffers heard him talk more and more about a museum and study center devoted to his life and work.

"Even when I came on board, it was emphasized that this stuff is not ours," Rodgers said. "I am sorry it can't stay here, but glad it will go with its brethren."

215-854-5611

www.inquirer.com/artswatch.