Where the Wild Things Are

Museum Practicum: Objective Blog, Rosenbach Museum & Library

Oktavia LaBarge, October 3, 2013

Title: Preliminary drawing for WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

Year: 1963

Material: Pen and ink, watercolor

Creator: Maurice Sendak

Collection: Rosenbach Museum and Library: Where the Wild Things Are

This is an image of the “rumpus” scene from the popular children’s book and movie, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.  This is a part of a collection at the Rosenbach Museum and Library .  Sendak and Abraham Rosenbach were both collectors of many of the same authors and artists.  In addition, Sendak was often a visitor of the Rosenbach Museum and Library and was inspired by the collection of the Rosenbachs. He donated many of his sketches and writings to the museum.  

One of Sendaks most popular and well known book is Where the Wild Things Are.  This book is about a child named Max, who after getting in to trouble with his mother, Max is sent to his room where he invents his own world.  The world which Max created is filled with monsters or wild things who take Max as their King.  Max learns a lot about himself and his family while in his own world and eventually decides to return home to his family. 

This image of the “rumpus” scene is important to people who are reading the book and visiting the museum.  It reveals the artistic process of Sendak, while creating different sketches for the book.  Without these preliminary drawings artists would not be able to create the final drawing.  This drawing reveals Sendak’s process of creating different pages for the book.  In the image, Max and the wild things dangle from trees.  Sendak emphasized individual characteristics of each of the different characters.  Next to the preliminary drawing is an image of the final drawing of this scene.  Having these two images next to each other emphasize the process of Sendak’s work.  The gallery reveals a timeline of the creation of the book, Where the Wild Things Are. The first image of the gallery represents Max being sent to his room

after misbehaving and before going where the wild things are.  Once Max goes to where the wild things are and they have accepted him, they decide to cause a rumpus or play in the trees.  The labels that are beneath the images reveal the purpose of each individual drawing and what Sendak was trying to depict.  Beneath the preliminary drawing there are descriptions of how the characters hang on tree branches similarly as children would hang on a jungle gym.  The label describes how the artist used the trees to create a division for each character to depict their individual characteristics.  In the images Max, the young boy with the crown and bunny costume, keeps his eyes closed to reveal he in not only the ringleader but also is internalizing the action in his own way.

To further enrich you understanding of this drawing one might research the author and artist Maurice Sendak to further understand the reasoning behind the story. Sendak as a child spent much of his life indoors where he spent a lot of time reading.  One may interpret that Max has similar characteristics to Sendak, who both had a very wild imagination.  Through his illustrations, Sendak gives readers an opportunity to explore and expand their own imagination.  In addition, people interested in this topic could read the book Where the Wild Things Are or watch the

movie.

Someone who might not be interested in this image, may be someone who does not like children’s book.  This could be an adult, who is more interested in reading non-fiction books rather than fiction.  People who are not interested may interpret the Where the Wild Things collection as fantasy and uninteresting.  They may interpret the gallery as childish and unrealistic.  Someone, who has never read the book or watched the movie may find the drawings as pointless and think that they are over the top.  In addition, an adult who is not a parent would not find a reason to read this book.

In order to further the experience for viewers at the gallery, I would have an after hours story-time at the Rosenbach Museum and Library.  I would invite young children to dress up in costume and listen as someone reads the story.  In addition, young children could come to the museum and watch a screening of the movie.  To further engage the audience, I would ask children to try their own preliminary drawings and then work on a final copy.  Another way to further the experience would be to invite the audience to create their own imaginary world and write a book about it.  To promote interest, I would create a contest asking people to submit their own book about an imaginary world.  The winner could have their book published and be sold at the Rosenbach gift store. 

If you are interested in learning about making book covers or art for children’s books check out my cousins page!