Page 130 - Swann Galleries - 20th Century Illustration - Sale 2300 - January 24, 2013

251 ● MAURICE SENDAK. Really Rosie.
8 Signed concept pencil sketches for CBSTV animated special Maurice Sendak’s Really Rosie.
222x267 mm; 83/4x101/2 inches, sheets, on white tracing paper, each Signed in full by Sendak,
lower right, sequentially numbered 1-8, and with two remnants of adhesive tape along top edges;
laid separately into mylar folders containing small white stickers with penned numbers from
Sendak’s personal art reference database, lower right. Circa 1975. [20,000/30,000]
Maurice Sendak’s children’s books starring the Nutshell Kids, who are depicted here, inspired Carole
King’s music for the Really Rosie television special.The program first aired in 1975, with music by
King and lyrics and animation by Sendak.These eight drawings are among those Sendak created as
guides for the team of animators to understand the characters’ personalities, body language, and
gestures.They all contain various images of Rosie, in her signature hat and feather boa, posed in a
series of different expressions from joy to anger to surprise; five of them with the boy character and
one with the alligator. Drawing 6 additionally contains Sendak’s comment “Looking very hurt -
offended” at the bottom of Rosie’s turned body with downcast eyelids and crossed hands.