Maira Kalman facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Maira Kalman
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| מאירה קלמן | |
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 an American artist, illustrator, writer, and designer. She is famous for her paintings and stories about everyday life. Kalman 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 The New York Times and The New Yorker magazines.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Kalman was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1949. Her mother, Sara Berman, came from Belarus. She moved to Israel to escape difficult times.
When Maira was four, her family moved to Riverdale, Bronx in New York City. Her mother, Sara, was known for her stylish look. She always wore white clothes. Maira went to the High School of Music & Art, which is now called LaGuardia High School. There, she studied art. Later, Kalman attended New York University (NYU) to study English literature. By the time she started college, her parents had moved back to Israel.
At 18, Kalman met designer Tibor Kalman at New York University. Tibor was from Budapest and had moved to New York City as a child. Maira said they met in a summer school class. She felt an instant connection with him, like they had known each other forever.
Kalman's Creative Journey
Starting with Design and Books
In 1979, Tibor Kalman started a design company called M&Co.. Maira was very important to the company's success. Even though she didn't work there directly, she gave many ideas and support. M&Co. became very famous for its new ways of using images and text. They created designs for Interview magazine, the band Talking Heads, and the Museum of Modern Art.
As her children were born in the 1980s, Kalman's focus began to change. She started writing children's books. Her first children's book, Stay Up Late (1985), had illustrations that went with songs by musician David Byrne. The book was about children trying to keep their baby brother awake.
Writing and Storytelling
After Tibor passed away in 1999, Maira Kalman started to focus more on her own creative work. She wrote more than 20 books over the years. In an interview from 2019, Kalman shared that she always loved writing. She saw herself as more than just a writer. She was a storyteller, a journalist, a designer, and someone who used humor in her work.
Kalman 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. This show was based on an opera called Four Saints in Three Acts.
Contributions to The New Yorker
Since 1995, Kalman has been a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine. She has created many cover illustrations and illustrated columns. One of her most famous works was the December 2001 New Yorker cover, called New Yorkistan. She created this with Rick Meyerowitz. The cover showed the different "tribes" or groups of people in New York City. It was very popular and sold out quickly.
Books About Important Events
In 2002, Kalman's children's book, Fireboat: The Heroic Adventures of John J. Harvey, was released. This book tells the story of a real fireboat that helped during the September 11, 2001 attacks on the Twin Towers in New York City. The John J. Harvey was one of the first boats to respond that day. This book helps young readers learn about this important historical event and the bravery of the fireboat.
Kalman's love for New York City and its famous places inspires her art. 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, Kalman also created illustrations for a special edition of The Elements of Style. This is a very popular guide about how to write well, written by William Strunk.
Illustrated Blogs and Collaborations
From April 2006 to April 2007, Kalman wrote a monthly illustrated blog for The New York Times called The Principles of Uncertainty. This blog was later published as a book in 2007. In 2009, she wrote another illustrated blog for The New York Times called And the Pursuit of Happiness. This blog was about American democracy and was published as a book in 2010. The first part of the book describes her visit to Washington, D.C. for President Barack Obama's inauguration.
Kalman also created illustrations for author Daniel Handler's Lemony Snicket series. These included the books 13 Words (2010) and Why We Broke Up (2011). In 2014, Kalman and Handler worked together on an illustrated book called Girls Standing on Lawns. This book was published by The Museum of Modern Art. They combined old photographs from MoMA's collection with Kalman's paintings and Handler's writing.
In 2014, Kalman's book My Favorite Things was published. This book featured important objects from the Cooper Hewitt museum and Kalman's own collection. These included a pocket watch that belonged to Abraham Lincoln and original copies of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Winnie-the-Pooh.
In 2017, Kalman received the AIGA Medal. This award recognized her amazing work in storytelling, illustration, and design.
In the summer of 2017, Kalman worked with choreographer John Heginbotham. They created a dance and theater show based on Kalman's blog, The Principles of Uncertainty. Kalman herself performed in the show.
Exhibitions of Her Work
Maira Kalman's art has been shown in many 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
- 2008 – Just Looking, Beihang University, Beijing, China
- 2009 – The Elements of Style, Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
- 2010 – Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA
- 2010 – Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
- 2010 – Further Illuminations, Julie Saul Gallery, New York, NY
- 2010 – Various Illuminations (of a Crazy World), The Jewish Museum, New York, NY
- 2010 – Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA
- 2011 – 25 Years/25 Artists, Julie Saul Gallery, New York, NY
- 2011 – Storied City: New York in Picture Book Art, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY
- 2012 – 37 Paintings, Julie Saul Gallery, New York, NY
- 2013 – What Pete Ate from A to Z, Madison Children's Museum, Madison, Wisconsin
- 2014 – Girls Standing on Lawns and Other Projects, Julie Saul Gallery, New York, New York
- 2014 – Maira Kalman: My Favorite Things, The Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, New York, NY
- 2014 – The Elements of Style, The Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN
- 2014 – Thomas Jefferson Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Everything, Monticello, Charlottesville, VA
- 2015 – Sara Berman's Closet, Mmuseumm, New York City, New York
- 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
- 2022 – Women Holding Things, Mary Ryan Gallery, New York City
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. Their children attended the City and Country School in Greenwich Village.
Kalman'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. In 2017, Kalman and her son Alexander worked with The Metropolitan Museum of Art to create an exhibit. It was dedicated to Kalman's mother and called "Sara Berman's Closet." Sara Berman's Closet also became a book that Maira and her son wrote to honor their family member.
In 2014, Kalman also performed in a show called Peter & the Wolf. This show was directed by Isaac Mizrahi at the Guggenheim's Peter B. Lewis Theater in New York City. Kalman played the character of the duck, whose sound is represented by an oboe.
Maira Kalman lives in Greenwich Village in New York City.
