Maurice Sendak's "Wild Things" at Denver Art Museum

A comprehensive show, Wild Things features the art of Maurice Sendak. It’s wonderful, and exhaustive, and exhausting. After the Wild Things section, we stepped into the library, and thought we were done. We enjoyed thumbing through the many books Sendak illustrated, and those he wrote as well. I hadn’t realized I’ve enjoyed so many of his collaborations: with Ruth Krauss (A Hole is to Dig etc), Else Holmelund Minarik (Little Bear), and then his own works, finally breaking through with Where the Wild Things Are and my personal favorite, In the Night Kitchen. 

His drawing skill was remarkable – among his early works were cartoon-style doodling to music, with the impish imagination that was his hallmark: a dog sitting, then a larger goose coming by, sticking its head down the dog’s throat and vanishing. In another, a fish emerges from another creature’s throat and joins it in antics. His efforts at being a “serious artist” using oil paints, were nowhere near as captivating as his intricately cross-hatched pen-and-ink drawings of children, animals, and their play. 

The originals for Where the Wild Things Are were displayed, each in its own case. Up close, I marveled at the details as Mickey sails to where the wild things are: painted waves, but pen-and-ink lines too – man, those were finely-executed waves! His Wild Things were featured in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2002 – I remarked to another visitor that you know you’ve Made It when your creation is in the Macy’s Parade. It’s a great and well-deserved honor. 

With so many works to display, the exhibit couldn’t help sending me into sensory overload – every piece was note-worthy. A set of 3 illustrations for a story about a griffin showed first the large fierce griffin (bird’s head, lion’s body, bird legs) stalking down a city street, then a sketch, and finally the griffin at a sick child’s bedside, frowning at a thermometer in his feathery grasp. That expression on the griffin’s face was perfect – even if you’ve never seen a griffin, or a bird with a frown, Sendak’s blend of human with the features of a non-human, captures both the beast and universal expression. 

Sendak stated that his art must not be cute, nor ever condescend to children – their antics and their imagination. He stayed true to that credo, and you should see this exhibit if you can!