Maira Kalman

Maira Kalman (b. 1949) is a visual artist, writer, and designer. Born in Tel Aviv, Kalman came to New York with her family at age 4. She describes her work as a form of journalism, writing and drawing an ongoing narrative about the world. Ranging from the mundane (bobby pins and pieces of moss) to the more serious (democracy and 9/11), Kalman uses her subjects to illuminate contemporary life with intelligence, joy, sadness, humor, and charm.

She has illustrated covers for The New Yorker, including New Yorkistan, and authored a series of children's books about the Parisian poet-dog, Max Stravinsky. Kalman created another children's book called Stay Up Late in collaboration with David Byrne of The Talking Heads. She wrote two illustrated blogs for the New York Times called And the Pursuit of Happiness and The Principles of Uncertainty. Her illustrations for the 2005 edition of The Elements of Style by Strunk and White are also well known.

Married to designer Tibor Kalman until his death in 1999, Kalman continues to run their design company, M&Co. She also designed the set for choreographer Mark Morris' production of an opera by Gertrude Stein and Virgil Thompson, Four Saints in Three Acts. Kalman lives in New York City.