Chloe+Vogt

The Art of Maurice Sendak by, Selma G. Lanes

//**Abstract:** Beginning with a physical study and history behind the book—the author, publisher, and printer—this paper will look at the connection and separation between its mono graphic style and popular culture connotations through a comparison of the historic //Picturesque America // and Henry Repton’s landscape and gardening books to Lanes' //The Art of Maurice Sendak.

Selma G. Lanes explores the life and art of the cherished Children’s book author and illustrator, Maurice Sendak. In the effort to document the variety and methods of his work and life story in a “easy and intimate” way through three-year long research and collaboration with Sendak and outside sources, Lanes presents a text with an abundance of illustrations, photographs, and paintings.
 * What is this book about? **

Selma G. Lanes 1929-2009 Image 1
 * Author: **

Selma G. Lanes dedicated herself in a career as an editor, critic, essayist, and lecturer of children's literaure. Born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, she later attended Smith of 1950 and the Columbia School of Journalism. For years she worked as the editor of Parents Magazine and the editor in chief of Parents Magazine Press. She also served as the Western Publishing's children department's managing editor. Lanes wrote reviews of children’s books and articles on authors for numerous magazines, including the New York Times and Times Magazine.


 * Publisher: **

Harry N. Abrams, Incoporated 1980 Great Britain 1981

Image 2 Image 3

Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated, founded in 1949 is an American publishing house that was the first to dedicate itself to making and circulating illustrated and art books. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Founded in New York City by London born Harry N. Abrams, it is known for its contemporary mono graphic books, publishes illustrated books of art, cooking, interior and fashion design, craft making, architecture, sports, popular culture, and children’s books. The publications produced tend to offer more of a “populist touch” for wide audiences.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Printer: **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The Bodley Head Image 4 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">An English publicizing house, it was founded as a partnership between John Lane and Elkin Mathews in 1887 for trading in antiquarian books. By 1894, the company began publishing decorative books, like //The Yellow Book,// a renowned literary periodical. Today, it strives to publish non-fiction books of all topics in the effort to produce “immaculate in both humanities and sciences, and on the other, books which contribute intellectual and cultural climate of our times” <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">([|http://www.bodleyhead.co.uk/aboutus.as]


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">On the outside: **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> Outer binding and measurements:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11.75 x 10.75"
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">boards bound with fabric illustration from //Where the Wild Things Are//, 1963, pen-and-ink line and watercolor. 9 x 19.5"
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">spine .5 cm thick
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">clear, plastic sleeve for protection, flap of sleeve wrapping the front cover has white text explaining what the book is about. The back flap on inside of the back cover lists other Sendak books published by The Bodley Head.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Looking Inside **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">**Designer:** Gilda Kuhlman

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> **Title Page:** Image from Sendak’s animated film Really Rosie, starring the Nutshell, pencil and tempura. 1975


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Time New Roman Font-humanist
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">278 pages including:


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Table of Contents: **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">**Index:** information and page numbers on images/citations used in text

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">**Chronology of Books:** includes books used for images and discussed in the book with their titles, publishing houses, dates

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">**Illustration Credits:** information on images used-the copyright, editors, publishers.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Types of images used and their layouts **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">261 illustrations, 94 full plates in color, rest in black and white, 3 foldout plates. Sendak’s rudimentary work, finished illustrations, personal photographs, paintings, sketches, designs for opera sets and short animated films, are found within all of the chapters.
 * //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">The Art of Maurice Sendak //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> uses reproductions and a facsimile of Sendak’s illustrations, paintings, and photographs.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Each chapter is laid out in a similar way-frontispiece on the verso with a smaller, coinciding image on the recto.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Alinda the Lovely Lady Singer, from The Sign on Rosie's Door, 1958. Pen-and-Ink line, with three wash separation <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Story-board sketches for animated short film of Very Far Away, 1975. Pen-and-ink line and watercolor, from a sheet of sketches <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Facsimile of 7 of 16 original pages, and photograph of earliest dummy for Where the Wild Things Are, 1955. Pen-and-ink line and watercolor <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">In the Night Kitchen, 1970. Pen-and-ink line, with watercolor separations <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">The Bee-Man of Orn. 1964. Pen-and-ink line and watercolor. Gatefold

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Endpaper from Hector Protector and As I Went over the Water. 1965. Pen-and-ink, with watercolor seperations <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Chapter Decoration from The Animal Family, 1965. Pen-and-ink line
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The Art of Maurice Sendak: Monograph or Pop-culture celebrity biography? **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Monograph: a detailed, scholarly treatise on one particular subject-Contains: index, acknowledgement note, collaboration and thorough research of the field, written by someone that has produced work in the field
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">the author of a monograph must provide primary research and new information. Lanes’ book is the first to write of Sendak’s work in such length and as previously noted the first largely extended treatise of the 20th century.

> [])
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">However...has been critiqued/considered as a contribution to popular art/culture: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Book reviewers Donnarae MacCann and Olga Richard say the images Lanes has categorized as fine art should be referred to as popular art; that instead of “the creative works [being] examined…this [book] alone justifies the selection of subject as one related to art”
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Yet, it is agreed that Lanes’ book has made a significant contribution to the history of children’s literature, in that “it unwittingly demonstrates the subtle connections between children’s books, popular culture, and social history”
 * <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times,serif;"> The review says the mono-graphic text more closely resembles a celebrity book, as told by Lanes, with no side commentary or independent thesis

//**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Sketches and Hints on Landscape and Gardening: **//
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Connection between //The Art of Maurice Sendak, Picturesque America and Henry Repton's// **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">All three titles present information on particular topics dealing with art and illustration, and contain detailed images, table of contents, and descriptions of the images
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">physical similarities
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">All three texts provide information on particular ideas, people, and images that may be intended for a common public—use of or written by well-known artists/figures, esteemed artwork and binding, have contributed to popular culture in some way with "popular art" of the day as either a researched celebrity biography, a single subject of illustrations that sparked a nationalistic response, or an exclusive set of books that became popular in the audience it was serving.






 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">In conclusion: **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Through a physical study of the book by examining the binding, paper, layout and type of imagery used, how the images were publisher, combined with a look at the overall content and the historic background of the book by studying its authorship and publication and printing information, a deductive response to the juxtaposition between the monograph and biography context of the book can be made. In comparison to the similar historic texts, //Picturesque America// and Henry Repton’s landscape and gardening books, including //Sketches and Hints on Landscape and Gardening,// they exemplify the concept of mono-graphic text in content and books of popular culture and art in readership and reception.

Images

1. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=selma-g-lanes&pid=126333039 2. http://www.amazon.com/Norman-Rockwell-Library-American-Abrams/dp/B00007D03X 3. http://www.amazon.com/Islamic-Context-Perspectives-Harry-Abrams/dp/0135998123 4. http://www.vintage-books.co.uk/about-us/bodley-head/