Here are Maurice Sendak's original 1998 designs for the front and back of the Wild Thing balloon from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. All four pieces are framed together. (I've changed the order of the images.)
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Maurice Sendak, Wild Thing Balloon, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 1998, August 9, 1998
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Maurice Sendak, Study for Macy's Thanksgiving Day Wild Thing Balloon, pencil, July 15, 1998
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Maurice Sendak, Wild Thing Balloon, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 1998, August 9, 1998
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Maurice Sendak, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloon Study, July 1998. "The tail is not properly placed--as you can see!"
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323. SENDAK, Maurice (b. 1928) Wild Thing Balloon Two watercolors (each 220 x 170 mm). Executed for the front and back of the Wild Thing Balloon for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade; with two pencil studies for the balloon. .both signed and dated 'july-august 1998'. Together four works framed together.
exceptional watercolors of the most famous creature in Sendak’s classic picture book Where the Wild Things Are (1963). One drawing is annotated “The tail is not properly placed--as you can see!” (2)
est. $35000 – £45000
Unsold
Wednesday 9th December 2009 at 2:00 pm
Capture the Imagination: Original Illustration & Fine IllustratedBooks
Bloomsbury Auctions. New York, NY
Here is Brechtbug's flickr photo of the balloon in the 2003 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade:
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Wild Thing Balloon, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 2003. Photo by Brechtbug.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/93779577@N00/3574112550/in/photostream/ |
Notice how circular the contour of Moishe's head is, as if he's wearing a space helmet. Sendak's original artwork gives the hair its own spiky contour and texture. Sendak also gave the legs a little more animation. The balloon, at least in this view, appears rather static by comparison.
This balloon was introduced in the 1998 parade. I don't believe it has been in the parade in recent years.
