The Maurice Sendak Foundation

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The Maurice Sendak Foundation

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06/05/2026

The Maurice Sendak Foundation sends its warmest congratulations to Sir Quentin Blake and the staff of the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration on the opening of its beautiful new premises in London today!

On January 24, 2000, Quentin Blake penned a letter to his kindred spirit, Maurice Sendak, saying that in the two years of his post as the UK’s Children’s Laureate, he hoped “in small ways to raise the profile of what we do,” that is, the making of picture books. “Though probably nothing raises it as much as your simply doing what you do,” Blake added.

We look forward to continuing our happy collaboration as fellow foundations in the business of preserving children's book illustration history and legacy. Let’s keep doing!

05/29/2026

What a lovely day for a walk in the woods, especially with Mr. Rabbit.

Original watercolor illustration from "Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present," written by Charlotte Zolotow, pictures by © Maurice Sendak.

05/22/2026

We are thrilled to share that the 2026 Sendak Fellows have arrived and are in residence at The Maurice Sendak Foundation! Please join us in welcoming Sid Sharp, Keiko Hayner, Angie Kang, and Zahra Marwan as they settle into their first week.

“We're so pleased to return the fellowship to Maurice's home and archive in Ridgefield,” says Lynn Caponera, Executive Director of The Maurice Sendak Foundation. “He loved sharing his work and the work of other artists that inspired him. We continue this with the fellowship. Although Maurice is no longer with us, the fellows always come away feeling as though Maurice is here guiding them in what he feels makes a great picture book. Maurice would be delighted to have us welcome these four fellows into his world.”

05/15/2026

On October 15, 1958, when Maurice Sendak was perusing at Manhattan’s Argosy Books, he was jostling out a book from the top shelf when a copy of Walter de la Mare’s Peacock Pie (1924) fell on his head. It was illustrated with woodcuts by the British artist Claud Lovat Fraser (1890–1921), whose birthday we celebrate today.

It was love at first sight. Sendak collected everything by the artist he could lay his hands on. The two had much in common: both were book illustrators, theatrical designers, and commercial artists. “Behind the deceptively casual style is an astonishing purity of design and richness of invention,” he wrote of Lovat Fraser.

Lovat Fraser, who suffered a gas attack at Ypres and from shell shock after the First World War, died age 31 following surgical complications. Half a century later, in 1971, Sendak visited the artist’s widow, the American dancer, actress, costume designer, author and translator, Grace Inez Crawford, aka Grace Lovat Fraser (1889–1977), in London. She gifted him some original drawings, including a version of a title page design for Charles Nodier’s The Luck of the Bean-Rows (1921), which hangs at Sendak’s home in Ridgefield.

1. Sketches by Maurice Sendak on foolscap, inspired by Lovat Fraser, December 5, 1971; and Sendak’s copy of Walter de la Mare’s Peacock Pie (1924) with Lovat Fraser’s illustration, “Rich Past All Belief.". Collection of The Maurice Sendak Foundation

2. Claud Lovat Fraser, “May 1922,” Safety First Calendar (London: Curwen Press, 1921). Collection of The Maurice Sendak Foundation

3. Claud Lovat Fraser, title page (1920) for Carlo Goldoni, The Liar: A Comedy in Three Acts, translated from the Italian by Grace Lovat Fraser (London: Selwyn & Blount, Ltd., 1922). Collection of The Maurice Sendak Foundation

4. Claud Lovat Fraser, “The Histories of Treasurebean & Peaseblossom, / To which is added the story of Brisquet’s Dog,” a version of the title page design for Charles Nodier’s The Luck of the Bean-Rows: A Fairy-Tale for Lucky Children (London: Daniel O’Connor, 1921). Collection of The Maurice Sendak Foundation

Today's post was written and prepared by our Associate Curator,

05/08/2026

Today on the anniversary of Maurice's death, we're reminded of our Director, Lynn Caponera's interview with Brother Christopher, recorded in "Wild Things are Happening:"

“One of the last full conversations I had with Maurice was in the hospital—it was about six days before he passed—and I had been sleeping in a bed next to him. He looked over and he said, ‘I just had the most beautiful dream. You were lying out on the bed with a white sheet over you and, in the background, there were clouds and there were hills and there was a German shepherd. Do you think that’s heaven?’

I feel terrible because I kind of laughed, because I thought, Maurice taking about heaven? And then I could see his face get tight and I said, ‘no, I think actually maybe it was heaven, Maurice, tell me more about what was there,’ and he started going into details. He just said, ‘I think it is heaven.” He said he wasn’t afraid, and he was ready. He was really ready to go.”

Original illustration from "Dear Mili," story by Wilhelm Grimm, pictures by © Maurice Sendak (1988).

04/28/2026

Warmer spring weather means more time to play in the grass! Maybe we'll hide a thing or two.

Original illustration from "A Hole is to Dig," words by Ruth Krauss, pictures by © Maurice Sendak.

04/09/2026

"Goodnight, Mother Dear."
"Goodnight, Little Bear. Sleep well."

Illustration from "Little Bear" (1957), words by Else Holmelund Minarik, pictures by © Maurice Sendak.

04/02/2026

We're going to the Bologna Children's Book Fair! If you're going, come see us at the following events. Swipe to see the full list!

03/26/2026

We are very proud of our Foundation Assistant, Chloe ! Her debut book as a children's book illustrator, "My Kentucky Moonlight School," written by Kim Michele Richardson, is now available for pre-order through !

Inspired by the life of Cora Wilson Stewart, whose Moonlight Schools became the model for the first adult literacy programs in the United States, Kim Michele Richardson imagines lives lived among the hills and hollers of Appalachia, transformed by the power of reading. We follow young Jewel and her grandparents through the woods on their moonlit path to school; held only during evenings for grown-ups. Jewel has been helping her Mamaw & Papaw with their reading and writing, but has she done enough to help them graduate? Richardson and Giroux take a loving and illustrated look into Appalachian history with Jewel as their guide.

03/20/2026

Happy Spring Equinox! 🌷🌼🌹

Original illustration from "I Want to Paint My Bathroom Blue," words by Ruth Krauss, pictures by © Maurice Sendak (1956)

Address

200 Chestnut Hill Road
Ridgefield, CT
06877

Website

http://www.sendakfoundation.org/

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