THERE'S A MYSTERY THERE

Sub-titled 'The Primal Vision of Maurice Sendak', Jonathan Cott first interviewed the artist in 1976 for Rolling Stone following the publication of the trilogy that began with 'Where the Wild Things Are', 'In the Night Kitchen' and 'Outside Over There'. Over the course of a revelatory conversation about his life, work, and the fantasies and obsessions that drove Sendak's creative process, they focussed on the many themes and images that would appear in the new book five years later. Widely considered to be one of the most important children's book artists of the 20th century, this very pictorial large hardback reproduces in colour dozens of illustrations plus archive photos and images from books, book jackets and pen and ink drawings. Sendak illustrated more than 100 children's books that have sold more than 30 million copies in his native USA alone. Among the earliest and most enduring of these are 'A Hole Is to Dig' for which Sendak provided mercurial pen-and-ink drawings of a gaggle of feisty, rollicking city kids, and the equally beloved Little Bear series with understated, cross-hatched Victorian drawings memorably incarnating three generations of a snug and kind-hearted ursine family. He created his own indelible children's literature immortals, among them the incorrigibly wilful Pierre from the Nutshell Library whose automatic 'I don't care!' response to every parental request is a mantra that will forever resound when encountering the terrible twos, terrifying threes and fearsome fours. Then there was the irrepressible little boy named Mickey from 'In the Night Kitchen' who floats out of his bed and out of his pyjamas and then freefalls, completely naked, into a surrealistic underworld kitchen where a trio of grinning Oliver Hardy look-a-like bakers proceed to mix him into batter and try to turn him into a delicious Mickey-Cake. And there is the rebellious wolf-suited Max who threatens to eat up his mum. 'Outside Over There' sees a 16 year old girl entering another worldly maze in order to rescue her young brother from the clutches of a goblin king. Biographical details and psychological analysis, art history and reflections of the playwright Tony Kushner illuminate the complex nature of this creative genius. 242 large pages, colour illus. Remainder mark.
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