Three-dimensional illustration …

… A second career in set design | The New Criterion. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

A notorious workaholic, Sendak wrote and illustrated twenty-two books, among them classics like Where The Wild Things Are and In The Night Kitchen. He illustrated at least sixty more texts, many by “adult” writers like Tolstoy, Singer, Kleist, and Melville. The range of Sendak’s subjects is indicative; an autodidact, his extraordinary level of culture was reflected in his ardent love of music (which he considered the highest art form).

So it should come as no surprise that when he initiated his career as a set designer in 1979, he did so with gusto.