More than 100 works by artists who inspired illustrator Maurice Sendak as well as almost 30 original works by Sendak himself will go under the hammer at Christie's.
Maurice Sendak, Artist, Collector, Connoisseur includes a live auction on June 10 which would have been Sendak’s 97th birthday, and an online auction May 29 - June 10.
Sendak was drawn to prints, drawings, and books of the Romantic era at the end of the 18th and first half of the 19th century, but his taste ranged across the past 500 years. The sale offers work by Dürer, Rembrandt, Picasso, and Hockney with a special emphasis on British artists including William Blake, George Stubbs, Henry Fuseli, and Samuel Palmer.
There are also works by children’s authors including Beatrix Potter and Eric Carle, as well as objects featuring Sendak’s lifelong inspiration, Mickey Mouse. To help ensure that children will continue to be inspired by the next generation of visual storytellers, these sales will support the Sendak Fellowship, a residency program at The Maurice Sendak Foundation, a nonprofit organization that encourages, teaches and supports artists who tell stories with illustration.
"He was a passionate, smart, deliberate collector," said Lynn Caponera, Executive Director of The Sendak Foundation. "Through collecting, he was able to assemble a wealth of inspiration for his work with a league of artists whom he thought of as his closest companions."
Sendak began collecting in his twenties from secondhand bookstores and print shops. The success of Where the Wild Things Are, published in 1963, enabled him to make his first major purchases.
