Heritage Auctions :: 8199 Illustration Auction May 2, 2025

Imagination Celebration for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Poster (1982)

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Artwork Details

Title:	Imagination Celebration for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Poster (1982)
Artist:	Maurice Sendak (All)
Media Type:	Paint - Watercolor
Art Type:	Illustration
For Sale Status:	Auction (2025 May 2)
Views:	76
Likes on CAF:	0 1
Comments:	0
Added to Site:	4/16/2025
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Description

Maurice Sendak (American, 1928-2012)
Imagination Celebration for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts final poster art, 1982
Watercolor and ink on paper
18-1/2 x 17 inches (47.0 x 43.2 cm) (image)
Signed and dated lower right: Sendak Feb '82

50 Years of Sendak: The Museum Tour Collection

Maurice Sendak long supported children's literacy and arts education through various public initiatives, including creating this artwork as the poster for the Kennedy Center's Imagination Celebration in 1982. The poster features his signature imaginative characters and promotes the importance of creativity in childhood development. This is one of the best examples of Sendak's poster illustrations and is immediately recognizable and enduringly beloved. Maurice Sendak's poster illustrations have played a significant role in extending his advocacy for children's imagination and literacy into the public sphere, reinforcing his influence and legacy beyond the page.

EXHIBITED:
Animazing Gallery, New York, "Sendak in SoHo," October 1-November 8, 2009;
AFA Gallery, New York, "Maurice Sendak Retrospective," June 9-September 3, 2012;

Maurice Sendak: 50 Years, 50 Works, 50 Reasons, traveling exhibition:
AFA Gallery, New York, June 9-September 3, 2012;
Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, Santa Ana, California, February 16-April 28, 2013;
Walt Disney Family Museum, San Francisco, California, May 23-July 7, 2013;
Portland Public Library, Maine, August 2013-July 2014;
Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin, Illinois, July 19-September 19, 2014;
Salt Lake City Library, Utah, January 17-March 8, 2015;
Houston Public Library, Texas, March-May 2015;
Nashville Public Library, Tennessee, May-June 28, 2015;
Milwaukee Public Library, Wisconsin, July 11-August 23, 2015;
Toronto Public Library, Canada, December 19, 2015-January 31, 2016;
Monroe County Public Library, Bloomington, Indiana, February 12, 2016-March 26, 2016;
Grand Rapids Art Museum, Michigan, April 9-May 22, 2016;
Phoenix Public Library, Arizona, June 2-July 17, 2016;
Biggs Art Museum, Dover, Delaware, July 30-September 11, 2016;
Syracuse University Art Galleries, New York, September 20-October 23, 2016;
Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, Illinois, November 10, 2016-February 20, 2017;
Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, New York, April 1-May 17, 2017;
Vero Beach Museum of Art, Florida, September 23-December 30, 2017;
Albany County Public Library, Laramie, Wyoming, May 30-July 8, 2017;
East Baton Rouge Public Library, Louisiana, January 16-February 25, 2018;
Metropolitan Library, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, June 15-July 9, 2019;
Gaston Public Library, North Carolina, December 16, 2019-January 25, 2020;
South Shore Arts, Munster, Indiana, February 14-April 12, 2020;
Fort Worth Public Library, Texas, November 13, 2021-January 31, 2022;
Community Fine Arts Center Rock Springs, Wyoming, September 1-October 8, 2022;
North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, North Dakota, March 14-May 12, 2024.

LITERATURE:
Imagination Celebration, The Peaceable Kingdom Press, Berkeley, California, 1982;
M. Sendak, Posters, New York, 1996, p.35, illustrated;
J. Hanrahan, Works of Maurice Sendak: Revised & Expanded to 2001, Custom Communications, 2001, p.157, c11.

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