A compilation of her work & play
“I can’t stand the idea of anything that starts in the beginning, you know, beginning, middle and end, it really scares me, because my life is too random and too confused, and I enjoy it that way.” So, I’m just going to follow her advice and scribble on.
The woman who has made a career out of daydreaming, the inimitable Maira Kalman. An artist, designer, illustrator, visual columnist, journalist, blogger, author call her whatever you like. Actually not blogger though, she thinks the word blog sounds like an amalgamation of blurp and barf. Anyhow, her wide appeal and charm, humour and wit, imagination and style has won the hearts of millions. Her work is as honest and witty as they are wildly imaginative. Not only are her books delicious to look at it, her blogs fun to follow and her stores interesting to hear, they’re also greatly insightful and emotionally moving. Let’s dive into what I have.
She loves to walk, travel and stare. she adores the typeface bodoni (so much that it’s her daughter’s middle name) and sometimes, she steals linens from hotels to use as paint rags , which , by the way, she is crazy about and even collects in flat files that are full of antique fabric. she is also very fond dogs (her own dog pete died only recently). and even today, at sixty two in her Greenwich street apartment in Manhattan, she lives with such a passion for work and life, and such energy that it’s truly inspiring. like most of us she too finds great inspiration in music specifically jazz and classical. And she believes that music is the highest form of art. She in fact used to play the piano herself. She is not too fond of technology. or malls.
She’s been living in New York since the age of four. She was born in Israel after her parents ed eastern Europe in the 1930s. Her father was the only one in his family to survive the holocaust. He then served in a Zionist paramilitary group (something to do with the Israeli defense) that operated in pre-state Israel, but wanting to expand his diamond business, he moved his family to Riverdale in new york in 1954. She has older sister, whom she claims kept her parents mostly busy, as a result of which she believes she got to enjoy a happily ignored childhood.
She studied literature at NYU as she as fond of writing since a young age. She dropped out in 1967, and even though her parents moved back to israel during her college years, she stayed back and married fellow student tibor kalman. “I was sick of my writing and figured that it must be easier to draw than to write.
…and it was the age of new wave and punk, and there was a whole new era of illustration going on. So, i started to draw.” Tibor and Maira had two children and in 1979 founded M&Co, a design studio where they designed everyday objects like umbrellas, paperweights and watches. Today these items are sold in the store of new york’s museum of modern art. In ‘99 tibor died of cancer. Since then, kalman has continued to design for M&Co.
so, what does she really do?
Maira started off her commercial career as an editorial illustrator with a book called ‘stay up late’ in 1985, written and composed by David Byrne (of the talking heads). Her first solo book was ‘hey willy see the pyramids’ and she has since then she has written and illustrated around thirteen children's books,
Which include the max Stravinsky books(poet dog series), ďŹ reboat: the heroic adventures of the john Harvey and many others. her most recent children's book, 13 words was collaboration with lemony snicket.
A peek into anyone of her children’s books that kind of gives you an idea of her sense crazy imagination and narrative skills. Something I found very fascinating.
Another thing I find frightfully delightful about Maira Kalman’s work were the cakes and burgers, fries and pies, drinks and desserts that she so often paints; always a treat for your eyes. there’s something so tempting about gouache on paper.
Kalman speaks of her work as a form of journalism. She uses writing and drawing to render an ongoing account of the world as she sees it. Her work almost vibrates with an intense humanism and a love for life. Several of Kalman’s pictures zero in on speciďŹ c material things that intrigue her.
A serious love of distraction pervades. Abundant depictions of food, art, and architecture represent life’s great pleasures. At the same time rubber bands, pieces of moss, bobby pins, and snacks stake a claim for smaller forms of satisfaction. All of this might seem pretty trivial were it not for the counterweight of history, memory, and loss that is also ever-present. Her illustrations are almost always supported by handwritten text which is usually very insightful in strange ways and very often hilarious too.
Her method of illustration is fairly uncomplicated. She uses gouache on paper as a standard medium. Gouache is a kind of opaque watercolor paints made in a glue like substance. She adds the handwritten text later as an additional layer just in the case of any errors.
what she’s known for.
She is a frequent contributor to ‘the new yorker’ magazine, and is well known for her collaboration with rick meyerowitz on the “new yorkistan" cover in 2001.
She wrote the monthly illustrated blog ‘the principles of uncertainty’ for the new york times for one year which was published in a book of the same title in 2007 to critical acclaim. she then started a new illustrated blog ‘and the pursuit for happiness’ about american democracy in 2009.
‘it’s is not a philosophy book, though it is full of ideas; it is not a travelogue, but it takes us on a journey. there’s a love song to Lincoln that will leave you breathless, a walk across the country that might change your diet, and shows you the Capitol building in a way that leaves you smiling. There is really nothing more to say, except find this book, buy it, read it, and treasure it.’ -penguin press
The latest one ‘why we broke up’ releases in January 2012
“How to live and how to die. Period. That's all i‘m trying to do all day long”
her influences “The Charlotte Salomon paintings are very important to me, and her work is really a profound inuence.
Her other creative models include Lewis Carroll and Ludwig Bemelmans. If given a chance she’d be interested to peek into the studio of Marcel Duchamp. Counterparts who produce work of similar style include Sarah mc eneandey of Philadelphia whose chromatic self documentation is of a similar kind. I think their characterization of life towards an alternate joy in every leaf and speckle are alike. The image to the left is her studio table.
& inspirations …The most inspiring objects are books. I have about 5,000 volumes in my home library. It's an unending source of visuals and ideas. I collect photography books, design books, art and fashion books... …also a great gift that someone sent me was an intact hummingbird's nest from California”
& these are a few of her favorite things
“
…in every mundane object there’s incredible
design and incredible ability to use your imagination and make it into something else; which is what everybody has to do in their life no matter what job they have. ”
“I like chairs as a design object and also as a place to contemplate,” she adds while standing near one of the chairs in her exhibit, of course. “I’ve sat in chairs in cafés all over the world. That would be my full-time job if I weren’t doing all of this.”
etcetera Apart from the given doodle embroidery, fabric designs for isaac mizrahi, set design for “four saints three acts" by gertrude stein and chewing gum packaging respectively, she has also produced murals for grand central station, windows displays for Sony, and clothes mannequins for pucci. she teaches at school of visual arts graduate division. the cofounder of the rubber band society. and she started ‘tiborocity’, an exhibition dedicated to the life and works of her husband tibor kalman.
awards she has won "The story of an abandoned Fireboat that became a hero during the rescue mission from the World Trade Center. A beautifully illustrated and imaginatively moving book for the children, Fireboat deals with 9/11 in both a personal and humanely artistic way." 2002 NYC book award. 2003 horn book award.
still gong steady By the time she began illustrating, in around late 1980’s illustration had already emerged and developed into an artistic feast of incredible variety but what Maira Kalman did differently was to make the beautiful bridge between children’s books illustrations and adult’s books illustrations. People began to get a sense of the fact that no distinction of style is really required for both because the human mind is capable of far more imagination than we allow. No realistic depictions are needed to append to text and mass appeal lies in honesty of expression and simplistic approaches.
In her words
born. bucolic childhood. culture-stuffed adolescence. played piano. stopped. danced. stopped. wrote. discarded writing. drew. reinstated writing. married Tibor Kalman and collaborated at iconoclastic yet successful design studio. wrote and painted children's books. worried. took up Ping-Pong. relaxed. wrote and painted for many magazines. cofounded the Rubber Band Society. amused. children: two. dog: one.
In other’s words ‘putting whimsical into the ordinary’ - new york times.
“
‘kalman’s illustrated blogs exist online as a kind of video-game for adults…’ - cathleen schine ‘her art is more of a happily burbling brook of passing observations, stray thoughts and ditzy fantasies.’ - ken johnson ‘her books are quirky, deeply moving, and beautiful documents of life on earth. She considers Spinoza, George Washington, fruit platters, her dog, the nature of war. ’ -emily mandon
& in some of my own Within this week of research and compilation, I have begun to feel like I know Maira Kalman almost personally. The web is flooding with stories about her. There endless video links and candid chats and interviews, photographs and what not. So naturally there’s a kind of familiarity that I have developed with her paintings, writing and so on which believe is partially because of her consistency of style and mostly because of the honesty in portraying whatever it is she’s talking about. I feel almost a part of the stories, those places. they sort of grow on you and effortlessly etch a place in your heart with all the colours, subject matters that are so deceptively simple and the child like style of expression. Although in my case and it just clicked immediately. The first impression I have of hers relates to a cherry pie illustration she’d made for her blog. I loved her work immediately. She is so beautifully honest and instinctively amusing that it’s hard to not like her. She is so popular among bloggers, writers, readers, illustrators, artists and critics alike who seem ever so thrilled and amused with her life and charm, quotes and lifestyle. She has a uniquely ubiquitous appeal owing to her charisma that shines through in every interview and exhibition. I am thoroughly glad I got this chance to find inspiration in this amazing woman.
thank you. Compiled by Shivani Singh