ARTS . Art

Under the Floorboards

None of Maurice Sendak's characters are merely scary monsters.


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Published: Apr 29, 2008

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Everything about illustrator/author Maurice Sendak comes from the unknowable below — the menacing mugwumps of Where the Wild Things Are, the portentous swell that lures a boy to make cake batter throughout In the Night Kitchen.

No matter that Sendak's "Wild Things" were ever-so-cozily named for his aunts and uncles (how scary could monsters named "Moishe" or "Tzippy" be?) or that after the triumph of those aforementioned books (1963 and 1970, respectively), Sendak worked with gentle souls like Jim Henson and Carole King. All that Sendak creates comes from a mythic place full of vague and dangerously charged realities, the likes of which fuel his damaged characters.

But none of Sendak's creatures are merely scary monsters. They're as frightened as a sickly Polish immigrant boy who lost family members in the Holocaust, a kid whose joy came from being read to aloud by his dad and whose mother is portrayed as a glowing, watchful moon in his books.

This mix of ferocious fear and raging illness forged the tender spots within Sendak's writing and illustration. They create layers of color, texture and meaning, of which Sendak himself seems to find mysterious still. "Something deeper is involved; deeper in myself than I know what it is," notes Sendak regarding his art's puzzle.

It's that maze of mirth and meaning that drew Sendak and the Rosenbach Museum & Library to each other. The richly disposed Victorian home is itself a maze, and in the '70s the museum became a repository of Sendak illustrations. The Rosenbach is hauling out 130 pieces of Sendak's stuff for the yearlong run of "There's A Mystery There: Sendak on Sendak."

On display will be the 79-year-old's original artwork from The Nutshell Library and Brundibar; dummy books of preliminary sketches for The Sign on Rosie's Door and Higglety, Pigglety, Pop!; drawings he made for unfinished projects like Tolkien's The Hobbit and Henry James' The Turn of the Screw; plus childhood photos of him, his family and other inspirations.

This is vital. This is magic.

(a_amorosi@citypaper.net)

"There's a Mystery There: Sendak on Sendak," Tue., May 6, through May 3, 2009, $5-$8 (free for children under 5; free admission on Tuesdays), Rosenbach Museum & Library, 2008-2010 Delancey Place, 215-732-1600, rosenbach.org.