MAURICE SENDAK ARTIST, COLLECTOR, CONNOISSEUR-LIVE AUCTION: 10 JUNE 2025

MAURICE SENDAK ARTIST, COLLECTOR, CONNOISSEUR-LIVE AUCTION: 10 JUNE 2025

LIVE AUCTION: 10 JUNE 2025 | ONLINE AUCTION: 29 MAY—12 JUNE 2025
ON VIEW AT CHRISTIE’S ROCKEFELLER CENTER: 6 — 10 JUNE 2025

NEW YORK – Christie’s is proud to present an unprecedented opportunity to explore the images and ideas that fed the imagination of one of the most beloved picture book artists in history, the late Maurice Sendak, whose books have sold more than 50 million copies worldwide. Maurice Sendak: Artist, Collector, Connoisseur includes a live auction on 10 June – which would have been Sendak’s 97^th birthday – and an online auction 29 May—10 June 2025. The works will be on view at Christie’s 6—10 June 2025. For more information about Maurice Sendak as a collector, please see, Inside the world of Maurice Sendak.

Christie’s is presenting more than 100 works by artists who inspired Sendak, as well as almost 30 original works by Sendak himself. As a brilliant draftsman and visionary artist who disseminated his art through books, Sendak was drawn to prints, drawings, and books of the Romantic era at the end of the 18^th and first half of the 19^th century, but Sendak’s taste ranged across the past 500 years and from textiles, to toys, to Chinese ceramics. The sale offers some of the great names in art history: Dürer, Rembrandt, Picasso, and Hockney with a special emphasis on British artists, including William Blake, but also George Stubbs, Henry Fuseli, and Samuel Palmer. There are works by children’s authors including Beatrix Potter and Eric Carl e, as well as objects featuring Sendak’s lifelong inspiration, Mickey Mouse. You can see the influence these works had in the indelible images and words Sendak created. William Blake is present in Sendak’s visionary storytelling through poetry and image; George Stubbs and Beatrix Potter echo in the drama and humor of the animals and mythic creatures that populate the landscapes of Sendak’s imagination and, through him, those of generations of children and adults around the world.

To help ensure that children will continue to be enchanted by the next generation of visual storytellers, these sales will support the Sendak Fellowship, a residency program at The Maurice Sendak Foundation, a nonprofit organization that encourages, teaches and supports artists who tell stories with illustration.

The International Head of the Prints & Multiples Department, Richard Lloyd, said: “Many of us, if given the chance to ask any artist just one question, would choose: what inspired you? For those curious about Maurice Sendak, this sale provides a fascinating and surprising answer. Much of Sendak’s inspiration came from English pastoral artists working more than two centuries ago. His enchanting imaginative landscapes, which have captivated generations of readers, are deeply rooted in these beautiful yet rarely seen works.”

HIGHLIGHTS LIVE AUCTION 10 JUNE 2025:

WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827) Songs of Innocence Printed by the author, 1789. Small octavo (175 x 130mm) Estimate: $1,000,000-1,500,000				MAURICE SENDAK (1928-2012) Original poster artwork for the 10th Anniversary of ‘New York is Book Country Watercolor 24 x 19 in. (61 x 48.2 cm.) Estimate: $60,000-80,000			WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827) Songs of Experience Printed by the author, 1794. Small octavo (197 x 133mm) Estimate: $1,000,000-1,500,000
JOHANN HEINRICH FÜSSLI, HENRY FUSELI, R.A. (1741- 1825) Martha Hesse as Silence (recto); Study of two figures (verso) pencil and white chalk on buff oatmeal paper 20 x 121/2 in. (51 x 32 cm.) Estimate: $120,000-180,000				GEORGE STUBBS (1724-1806) The Lion and Stag Enamel on copper oval 53/4 x 61/2 in. (14.6 x 16.5 cm.) Estimate: $100,000-150,000			MAURICE SENDAK (1928-2012) Really Rosie Poster Design watercolor and ink on paper, painted in 1980 271/8 x 181/4 in. (69 x 46.5 cm.) sheet Estimate: $25,000-35,000
MAURICE SENDAK (1928-2012) Sendak in Philadelphia Pencil and watercolor 143/4 x 117/8 in. (37.3 x 30.3 cm.) Estimate: $60,000-80,000				REMBRANDT HARMENSZ VAN RIJN (1606-1669) The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds etching, engraving and drypoint, on laid paper, with partial foolscap watermark, 1634 Sheet: 103/8 x 83/4 in. (264 x 222 mm.) Estimate: $15,000-20,000			MICKEY AND MINNIE MOUSE MOTORCYCLE  TIPPCO, GERMANY, CIRCA 1935  Vibrant polychrome tin plate toy with key, Mickey and Minnie Mouse both depicted with five fingers on each hand 9 in. (22.9 cm.) long Estimate: $30,000-50,000

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