Maira Kalman facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Maira Kalman
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Kalman in 2010
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| Born | November 15, 1949 Tel Aviv, Israel
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| Known for | artist, illustrator, author, designer |
| Spouse(s) |
Tibor Kalman
(m. 1971; died 1999) |
| Children | 2 |
Maira Kalman is a talented American artist, illustrator, writer, and designer. She is famous for her paintings and stories that explore what it means to be human. Maira has written and illustrated over 30 books for both kids and adults. Her amazing artwork has been shown in museums all over the world. She has also regularly contributed to well-known publications like The New York Times and The New Yorker.
Contents
Maira Kalman's Early Life
Maira Kalman was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1949. Her mother, Sara Berman, came from Belarus and moved to Palestine to escape difficult times.
When Maira was four years old, her family moved to Riverdale, Bronx in New York City. Her mother was known for her stylish look and always wore white clothes. Maira went to the High School of Music & Art (now called LaGuardia High School) where she studied art. Later, she attended New York University (NYU) to study English literature. By the time Maira started college, her parents had moved back to Israel.
At 18, Maira met Tibor Kalman at New York University. Tibor was a designer from Budapest who had moved to New York City as a child. Maira described their meeting, saying, "We met in this class of misfits in summer school... So we met there, and he asked me out on a date. And you know in your life, when you meet somebody [and] you go, 'I've known you for a thousand years,' and there's not even an iota of a question?"
Maira Kalman's Creative Career
Starting M&Co.
In 1979, Maira's husband, Tibor, started a graphic design company called M&Co.. Maira played a big part in helping the company grow. Even though she didn't officially work there, she always shared ideas and offered support. M&Co. became very well-known for its fresh and creative use of images and text. They created designs for Interview magazine, the band Talking Heads, and the Museum of Modern Art.
Exploring Different Art Forms
After her children were born in the 1980s, Maira's focus began to change. In the mid-1980s, she started writing and illustrating children's books. Her first children's book, Stay Up Late (1985), featured drawings that went along with songs by musician David Byrne. The book was about kids trying to keep their baby brother awake.
After her husband, Tibor, passed away in 1999, Maira Kalman began to focus even more on her own creative work. She wrote more than 20 books over the years. Maira always had a love for writing and storytelling. She sees herself as a storyteller, a journalist, a designer, and someone who brings humor to her work. Throughout her career, Maira has written a series of children's books about a poet-dog named Max Stravinsky. She also designed the stage sets for a dance show by the Mark Morris Dance Group.
Since 1995, Maira has been a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine. She has created many cover illustrations and illustrated columns. One of her most famous covers was New Yorkistan in December 2001, which she created with Rick Meyerowitz. This cover got a lot of attention because it playfully looked at the different groups of people in New York City. The magazine sold out within two days!
In 2002, Maira Kalman's children's book, Fireboat: The Heroic Adventures of John J. Harvey, was released. This book tells the story of the John J. Harvey, a real fireboat that helped during a very sad event in New York City's history when the Twin Towers fell on September 11, 2001. The John J. Harvey was one of the first boats to respond to the attacks that day. This book helps young people learn about this important historical event and the bravery of the fireboat.
Maira often finds inspiration for her art in the busy environment of New York City, including its famous landmarks. Her picture book, Fireboat: The Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey, won the annual Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for Nonfiction in 2003. In 2005, Maira Kalman also created illustrations for a new edition of The Elements of Style, a very popular guide to good writing.
From 2006 to 2007, Maira wrote a monthly illustrated blog for The New York Times called The Principles of Uncertainty. This blog was later published as a book. In 2009, she wrote another illustrated blog for The New York Times called And the Pursuit of Happiness, which explored American democracy. This blog also became a book in 2010.
Maira Kalman also created illustrations for author Daniel Handler's Lemony Snicket series, including the books 13 Words (2010) and Why We Broke Up (2011). They later worked together on an illustrated book called Girls Standing on Lawns (2014), which combined old photographs from the Museum of Modern Art with Maira's paintings and Daniel's writing.
In 2014, Maira Kalman's book My Favorite Things was published. This book featured important objects from the Cooper Hewitt and Maira's own collection. These included a pocket watch that belonged to Abraham Lincoln and original copies of famous books like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Winnie-the-Pooh.
In 2017, Maira received the AIGA Medal, a special award for her amazing work in storytelling, illustration, and design. That same year, she worked with choreographer John Heginbotham to create a dance and theater show based on her blog, The Principles of Uncertainty. Maira even performed in the show herself!
Art Exhibitions
Maira Kalman's work has been shown in many art exhibitions around the world. Here are some of them:
- 2003 – Just Looking, Julie Saul Gallery, New York, NY
- 2005 – I Can't Stand All the Excitement, Julie Saul Gallery, New York, NY
- 2007 – The Principles of Uncertainty, Julie Saul Gallery, New York, NY
- 2009 – The Elements of Style, Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
- 2010 – Various Illuminations (of a Crazy World), The Jewish Museum, New York, NY; Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA
- 2014 – Maira Kalman: My Favorite Things, The Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, New York, NY
- 2017 – Sara Berman's Closet, in collaboration with Alex Kalman, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, New York
- 2019 – The Pursuit of Everything: Maira Kalman's Books for Children, The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia
Maira Kalman's Personal Life
Maira Kalman married designer Tibor Kalman in 1981. They had two children, Lulu Bodoni and Alexander Onomatopoeia. They were married for eighteen years until Tibor passed away in 1999.
Maira's mother, Sara Berman, was a big inspiration for her love of storytelling and books. Maira and her mother would often go to the library together and connect with the characters in the books they read. In 2017, Maira and her son Alexander worked with The Metropolitan Museum of Art to create an exhibit dedicated to Maira's mother, called "Sara Berman's Closet." This exhibit also became a memoir that Maira and her son wrote together.
In 2014, Maira Kalman performed in a show called Peter & the Wolf, directed by Isaac Mizrahi, at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Maira played the character of the duck, whose sound is represented by an oboe.
Maira Kalman currently lives in Greenwich Village in New York City.
Images for kids
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Maira Kalman in 2010
