Selected Images

Click on an image below to learn more.

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  “Don’t you want to make him stay up late?”
  “Don’t you want to make him stay up late?”

  “Don’t you want to make him stay up late?”
  Illustration for Stay Up Late, from a song by David Byrne, Viking Penguin Inc., 1987
  Gouache, pen and ink, and colored pencil on paper

  When David Byrne, the lead singer of the rock group Talking Heads, became a client of Maira’s husband, Tibor Kalman, at M&Co, Tibor suggested that she design the cover for the band’s album Little Creatures (1985). That job launched her career in picture books! In 1986, she collaborated with Byrne, illustrating the lyrics of his song Stay Up Late as a children’s book.

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  “When I was seven and sitting in a tree in Henry Hudson Park behind our house, I felt that someday I would make up stories.”
  “When I was seven and sitting in a tree in Henry Hudson Park behind our house, I felt that someday I would make up stories.”

  “When I was seven and sitting in a tree in Henry Hudson Park behind our house, I felt that someday I would make up stories.”
  Illustration for Chicken Soup, Boots, Viking, 1993
  Gouache on paper

  “When I was seven sitting in a tree in Henry Hudson Park behind our house, I felt that someday I would make up stories. I would be a writer,” wrote Maira Kalman in Chicken Soup, Boots, a book that explores the age-old question “What will you be when you grow up?” The last page of the book shows Maira daydreaming at her desk and illustrates the job of a writer. Maira Kalman always grounds her stories and illustrations in the personal—what happens to her and her family, their pets, what she observes, and what she collects.

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  “Ride I did, right into the inner chamber of the outer belly button of the sacred temple.”
  “Ride I did, right into the inner chamber of the outer belly button of the sacred temple.”

  “Ride I did, right into the inner chamber of the outer belly button of the sacred temple.”
  Illustration for Swami on Rye: Max in India, Viking, 1995
  Gouache on paper

  In Swami on Rye, Max has learned he’s going to be a father. His wife, Crêpes Suzette, is pregnant. Max is worried—will he be a good parent? In this adventure-filled tale, a genie sends Max on a magic carpet ride to India to find the meaning of life.

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  Next Stop, Grand Central
  Next Stop, Grand Central

  Cover illustration for Next Stop, Grand Central, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1999
  Gouache on paper

  In the fall of 1997, thousands of lucky commuters got to walk through Maira’s version of Grand Central Terminal in New York City when she was commissioned to create six paintings to cover scaffolding during a major renovation. Reproductions of those murals are on view in this gallery. The paintings grew into a book: Next Stop, Grand Central (1999).

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  “S: He ate Mookie’s stinky sneaker for breakfast.”
  “S: He ate Mookie’s stinky sneaker for breakfast.”

  “S: He ate Mookie’s stinky sneaker for breakfast.”
  Illustration for What Pete Ate from A–Z (Really!), G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2001
  Gouache on paper

  In real life, Pete was the Kalman family’s beloved dog, a Wheaten Terrier and an incorrigible omnivore. Maira started keeping a list of what he consumed, and it grew into the alphabet book What Pete Ate from A–Z (Really!).

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  “The dog and the goat drive back home in the convertible in a state of great excitement.”
  “The dog and the goat drive back home in the convertible in a state of great excitement.”

  “The dog and the goat drive back home in the convertible in a state of great excitement.”
  Illustration for 13 Words, by Lemony Snicket, HarperCollins, 2010
  Gouache on paper

  Maira finds great success in her collaborations with other writers and artists. You will learn about her partnership with author Daniel Handler (also known as Lemony Snicket, author of A Series of Unfortunate Events).

  Her friendship with Daniel Handler started when they met at a dinner in Italy. Handler wanted to meet Maira so badly that he made sure they were seated next to one another. He and Maira have collaborated on five books, including 13 Words. He neatly sums up the quality their work shares: “a soft spot for where suffering and sadness meet the ridiculous.”

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  “He had a family that he loved very much.”
  “He had a family that he loved very much.”

  “He had a family that he loved very much.”
  Illustration for Looking at Lincoln, Nancy Paulsen Books, 2012
  Gouache on paper

  Maira’s love of family and play is evident in the delightful image of the Lincoln family at the dinner table. It looks like they are getting ready for dessert. Can you find the two cakes? What other fun details can you find?

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  “Your Anchor.”
  “Your Anchor.”

  “Your Anchor.”
  Illustration for Beloved Dog, Penguin Press, 2015
  Gouache on paper

  Since dogs terrified her mother, it seems odd that Maira has them on the brain, yet they appear in every one of her books. The blue-shoe-sporting Bulldog in Your Anchor was the October 7, 2013, cover for The New Yorker magazine. Beloved Dog is a compilation of Maira’s favorite canines, including, of course, her alter ego Max the poet.

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  “The Ninth Birthday”
  “The Ninth Birthday”

  “The Ninth Birthday”
  Illustration for Cake, with recipes by Barbara Scott-Goodman, Penguin Press, 2018
  Gouache on paper

  Maira has a sweet tooth. From Mary Todd Lincoln’s favorite cake to her own ninth birthday cake (mocha cream from Mother’s Bakery down the street from her New York City home), she admires, enjoys, and even dreams of cake. Her advice on the subject: “Things are much nicer with cake. Bring on the cake. We really want to live.”

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  Inez Milholland, 1886–1916: Your Voice Matters
  Inez Milholland, 1886–1916: Your Voice Matters

  Inez Milholland, 1886–1916: Your Voice Matters
  Illustration for Bold & Brave: Ten Heroes Who Won Women the Right to Vote, written by Kirsten Gillibrand, Alfred A. Knopf, 2018
  Gouache on paper

  Maira painted Inez Milholland riding a white horse and wearing a gold crown and white cape. Milholland was a lawyer who worked for the rights of workers. In 1913 there was a parade in Washington, DC, to support a woman’s right to vote, and Inez led the parade on horseback. Why do you think she decided to wear a gold crown with a star?

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  Sojourner Truth, c. 1797–1883: Speak the Truth
  Sojourner Truth, c. 1797–1883: Speak the Truth

  Sojourner Truth, c. 1797–1883: Speak the Truth
  Illustration for Bold & Brave: Ten Heroes Who Won Women the Right to Vote, by Kirsten Gillibrand, Alfred A. Knopf, 2018
  Gouache on paper

  In Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Maira Kalman’s book Bold & Brave, they introduce young readers to central figures of the woman’s suffragist movement in the United States. Sojourner Truth was born into slavery in New York, became a free woman in 1826, and fought for equality for the rest of her life. What can we learn about her from Maira’s painting?

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  Max
  Max

  Max
  Sketch for Ooh-la-la (Max in Love), Viking, 1991
  Gouache on paper

  Max Stravinsky is Maira Kalman’s alter ego, an artist, a poet, and a traveler. Maira describes him: “A bit of my husband, Tibor, but more than a bit of me. A wanderer, observing the absurd. Sometimes innocent and yearning. Sometimes downcast and confused. Well, isn’t that everybody. Max mirrored my life, the trips and funny distractions and observations. The essentialness of it all.”