Let the wild rumpus start at the Denver Art Museum's new Maurice Sendak exhibit

Let the wild rumpus start at the Denver Art Museum’s new Maurice Sendak exhibit

Oct 16, 2024

Mary Lou Coleman, the author’s mother, and her daughter Angela Pierce stand at the entrance to the new Maurice Sendak exhibit at the Denver Museum of Art. Pam LeBlanc photo

My sister and I busted my mom out of her assisted living facility and took her on a bit of a wild rumpus this week – an outing to see the new exhibit about illustrator Maurice Sendak at the Denver Art Museum.

You probably know Sendak’s most famous work, the leering, dancing monsters of “Where the Wild Things Are.” The children’s book tells the story of a boy named Max, who sails away to find the “wild things” after he’s sent to bed without dinner.

I knew all the pictures in that book by heart, but my subconscious was also familiar with other Sendak characters. There’s Rosie, who dresses up like a glamorous singer, and Pierre, who doesn’t care about anything until he meets a lion.

Sendak was born in Brooklyn in 1928 and spent much of his childhood watching the world go by outside the window of the room where he was bedridden. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Poland, and Sendak lost several members of his extended family to the Holocaust.

The Disney film Fantasia sparked his interest in illustration when he was 12. His professional career started when he was 20, and he created window displays for FAO Schwarz. He illustrated more than a hundred books during the next 60 years.

While my sister and I pushed my mom through a maze of more than 400 of Sendak’s original artworks at the exhibit, the biggest collection ever on public display, I got lost in a jungle of memories. It’s funny how those illustrations were so familiar to me, even though I hadn’t seen them for years.

The exhibit also includes video interviews with Sendak, information about his work as a theater set designer, and a piece of a Thanksgiving parade balloon shaped like one of the Wild Thing monsters.

Another highlight? An entire section devoted to his love for his dog Jennie, a scrappy white terrier named Jennie, who appears in most of the books he illustrated between 1954 and 1967. The dog takes a starring role in “Higglety Pigglety Pop! Or There Must Be More to Life,” a tribute to her just before her passing.

Sendak died in 2012. He was preceded in death by his long-time partner, Dr. Eugene Glynn, a psychiatrist and art critic.

The exhibit continues through Feb. 17. Tickets start at $27. Member tickets are $5. For more information go to https://www.denverartmuseum.org/en/exhibitions/wild-things-art-of-maurice-sendak.