The MoMa is presenting a retrospective on the works of Spike Jonze until October 18th.
Last night I attended a tribute to Maurice Sendak at the museum. They screened a short documentary titled Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait on Maurice Sendak. It's a home-video styled film Spike Jonze made while visiting Maurice's house in Connecticut. Spike came up and introduced a bit before the screening. While he was speaking, I realized that the night wasn't about the celebrated works of Maurice Sendak. The night was in tribute to a great friendship developed through the love of creation between these two artists.
Spike loves Maurice so much that he wanted to share a piece of it. Inside of Maurice's home is filled with tiny little pieces of his life. He still keeps all the hand-made toys he built as a little boy. The toys are about 70 years old now and still cared for with tenderness. Maurice is very honest when it comes to death. He has been obsessed with it since the time he was 4 years old when the Lindbergh kidnapping took place. It was when Maurice accidentally saw a published photo of the baby corpse that he realized how fragile life is. This early acknowledgement of death created a dark sense a maturity that centers who he is as an artist.
After the documentary, Maurice Sendak and Spike Jonze came onstage for a conversation. Maurice told long stories about the people and friendships he misses. He talked about how he never intended
Where the Wild Things Are to be a children's book. He spoke about the people and critics that hated him for it. Maurice also remembers being personally insulted by a famous psychologist at how corrupt the book is. Ironically this psychologist committed suicide a few years later. It makes me wonder where the hate comes from in the angry mothers and church groups that threatened Maurice. And why they are vehemently against any one's own right to self-express? Sigh, a simple question with its long string of complexities.
Maurice was hilarious with his usual sarcasm and wit. But he was also extremely serious when it came to making life his art (and vice versa). His work is made up of his loved ones. His memories live within the illustration of the characters he create. It was almost painful listening to Maurice being light about death. He knows that his time is ticking and still have many things he wants to do. Seeing him scrambling and coughing up with tears in the end made me feel guilty. It also helped me realize why it was important for Spike Jonze to film this documentary; to share Maurice Sendak with us.
"... an isolation of life, doing books, doing pictures and it's the only true happiness I ever enjoyed in my life. It's sublime. To just go into another room and make pictures. It's magic time. Where all your weaknesses of characters and blemishes of personalities and whatever else torments you fades away... I'm trying very hard to concentrate on what is here. What I can see, what I can smell, what I can feel. Making that the important business of life."
