Maurice Sendak

Strangely enough. among the high points of the Jewish Museum‘s exhibition entitled Wild Things: The Art of Maurice Sendak. is a small alcove off the main gallery. Decked out with soft pillows. a shaggy rug. and a generous assortment of Sendak books. this retreat from the museum's crowds was inspired by Max‘s imaginary bedroom in Where Ihe Wilt! Thingi' Are. perhaps Sendak's most famous children‘s tale. Walking through the exhibil‘s thematically arranged rooms, exploring the artist‘s Eastern European roots. his connections to Brooklyn‘s Jewish community, and his links to Germany. land of the Holocaust and of the brothers GrimmV l was increasingly drawn to Ihia simple room where a weary mother could read to her sleepy child.

In pre-Victorian times. despite the widespread belief that a woman‘s place was in the home. some strong-minded women found opportunities to participate actively in scientitic work. In Btlfnre Viviaria, Elizabeth Denlinger points out that. at that time. the sciences. were, to .some extent. still in their infancy: they had not yet become official pans of the university curriculum. and therefore were open to women. Thus. Caroline Herschel. acting as assistant to her brother William. in the late eighteenth century performed basic astronomical research. The first woman to discover a comet. in later years Herschel catalogued every discovery she and her brother had made. creating research tools still in use today.

Sendak died on May 8, 2012 leaving his legacy.