Maurice Sendak, children’s author and illustrator, died today.
For those who loved his books it’s a great loss. You may be
wondering what this has to do with Asian Art. Granted, not a
lot. But it has to do with how we think about children, and what
we share with them. Sendak’s work is dark, exploring some of the
grimmest topics a child could be exposed to. He didn’t believe
in sheltering children from the real world. He had a deep
respect for the ability of children to deal with complex and
challenging themes. For an insight into Sendak’s work, check out
this recent interview from The Colbert Report. Phantoms of Asia,
which opens on May 18, is in many ways a challenging show. As a
parent, I am wondering how my three-year-old will react to the
images. I wonder if he should even be exposed to some of them. I
have been speaking with other parents here at the museum about
how we plan to address some of the questions that could come up:
about death, about violence, about sex. We will all have
different ways of dea