Maurice Sendak: Wild Rumpus Stage Design, Glyndebourne

A Maurice Sendak set design offered yesterday at Heritage is based on his classic children's book Where the Wild Things Are. "Let the wild rumpus start!," as it is called, was created for the Glyndebourne Touring Opera's production. These are the Sendak characters collectors wants to see and own in his original work, although here they are looser and less detailed than they appear in his book illustrations.

Maurice Sendak
Heritage Auctions listing accessed November 5, 2023, eleven days before the auction

https://fineart.ha.com/itm/mainstream-illustration/maurice-sendak-american-1928-2012-let-the-wild-rumpus-start-where-the-wild-things-are-glyndebourne-touring-opera/a/8145-67035.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515

Bidding opened at $35,000, half the low estimate of $70,000. The piece was not sold at auction, but was made available for purchase at a fixed price of $87,500 after the sale. This cost is derived from the low estimate of $70,000 plus the 25% buyer's premium. Thus the reserve must have been set at the low estimate, the highest reserve permissible.

Note:  Readers waiting for my express permission to submit scans and photographs of original Maurice Sendak art to this blog may now consider themselves enabled to do so.

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