The beloved and acclaimed children’s book author Maurice Sendak (1928–2012) was also an avid opera lover who designed sets and costumes for several productions. In 1978 he was invited by Frank Corsaro to create designs for the Houston Grand Opera’s staging of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Magic Flute (1791), which opened two years later. The Magic Flute, one of Sendak’s favorite operas, was the first theatrical production he worked on, and it marked the beginning of many future projects for the opera and ballet. Sendak’s drawings for The Magic Flute range from preparatory sketches to elaborate final watercolors. The works were selected from the artist’s bequest of over nine hundred objects to the Morgan Library & Museum.
Presented in conjunction with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Treasures from the Mozarteum Foundation of Salzburg.
Exhibition location:
Lower Level
See map
Organized by Claire Gilman, Acquavella Curator and Department Head of Modern and Contemporary Drawings, and Esther Levy, Curatorial Assistant, Modern and Contemporary Drawings.
Maurice Sendak. Papageno, 1980. Watercolor and pen and ink. The Morgan Library & Museum, Bequest of Maurice Sendak, 2013, 2013.104:74. © The Maurice Sendak Foundation