Drawing the Curtain: Maurice Sendak's Designs for Opera and Ballet
Renowned for his beloved and acclaimed children’s books, Maurice Sendak (b. New York, 1928–2012) was also an avid music and opera lover. In the late 1970s, he embarked on a successful second career as a designer of sets and costumes for the stage. Drawing the Curtain: Maurice Sendak’s Designs for Opera and Ballet is the first museum exhibition dedicated to this aspect of his career. Sendak’s refined line drawing and distinctive color palette permeate his imaginative designs for the stage. Like his children’s books, these stage designs present worlds that are both magical and mysterious, joyful and fraught, places where one might feel at times like an outsider, a theme which resonated with Sendak’s own lived experience.
Drawing the Curtain: Maurice Sendak’s Designs for Opera and Ballet features one hundred enchanting illustrations, detailed dioramas, and clever costumes—all in Sendak’s signature style—created for stage productions of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Prokofiev’s Love for Three Oranges, Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, and his own classic Where the Wild Things Are. This exhibition is suited for all audiences, young and old, and welcomes wild things and ferocious beasts; kings, queens, and nobles; mischievous children; and lovable characters of every kind.
Join us and be transported from page to stage to faraway places where our imaginations can run wild.
Presented by
Sponsored by Debi and Galen Havner
Drawing the Curtain: Maurice Sendak's Designs for Opera and Ballet was organized by the Morgan Library & Museum, New York.
Presented By
All exhibitions at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art are underwritten by the MBMA Exhibition Fund.
Major annual support is provided by Kay Clark and Maggie and Milton Lovell, with generous annual funding from Anonymous, Gloria and Kenneth Boyland, Holly and Paul T. Combs, Deborah and Bob Craddock, Michael and Maria Douglass, Eleanor and William Halliday, Debi and Galen Havner, Buzzy Hussey and Hal Brunt, Jay and Kristen Keegan, the Doris S. and Hubert Kiersky Charitable Remainder Trust, Carl and Valerie Person, and Bill Townsend.