Tim Burton was born in Burbank, California on August 25, 1958 and raised in a sunny middle-class neighborhood of the city. He never felt at home there and so - self-reliant and possessed of a restless imagination - he consoled himself with the pleasures of drawing and humor and an interest in visual media that he indulged by feeding on the most accessible and colorful forms of popular entertainment.

So reads the introductory text for the Tim Burton retrospective, opening this Sunday at The Museum of Modern Art. Throughout the museum and spilling into the garden are close to a thousand objects and images dating from Burton's high school days, when he warded off the blues by creating characters, animated films, and even a public service cartoon promoting a trash-free hometown.

Among the hundreds of character studies are an early iteration of one called The Gardener, from a group made between 1981 and 83, that would later emerge fully realized as Edward Scissorhands. This being one of my favorite Burton creations, I was thrilled to find not only a life-size figure of the character as embodied by Johnny Depp but also, in the garden, a topiary deer identically recreated especially for the exhibition.

Left and center: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007). Directed by Tim Burton. Shown: Johnny Depp (as Sweeney Todd), copyright 2007 by DreamWorks LLC and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved. Photo Credit: Leah Gallo. Untitled (Edward Scissorhands, copyright 2009 Tim Burton, copyright 2009 Twentieth Century Fox. Both courtesy The Museum of Modern Art. Right, seen in MoMA lobby: Fashion designer Kambriel (right), and friends from North Carolina, dress with respect to Tim Burton's artistry; photo: Peggy Roalf.

Just about every medium you can imagine has found its way into Burton's hands, including acrylic-on-velvet paintings. A charming group of seven in this mode is included in a small gallery with black walls, black lights, and a fun-house atmosphere nicely amped up via a soundtrack by Danny Elfman, one of Burton's long-time collaborators.

The third floor galleries are chock-a-block with drawings, paintings, models and maquettes for characters and settings, costumes and props, and animated films. Among these is Burton's little-known adaptation of Hansel and Gretel, a work commissioned by The Walt Disney Company and broadcast only once in October 1983. Working with early collaborators Rick Heinricks, Stephen Chiodo, and Joe Ranft, he created over 500 pieces of concept and storyboard art, designed toys for the film, and even hand-painted parts of the set for this virtually handcrafted production. Many of these items are displayed along with the film.

But that's not all. The first ever exhibition to explore Burton's achievements as a director and concept artist for live-action and animated films - and as an artist, illustrator, photographer, and writer - includes a major film retrospective running at the museum's Roy and Niuta Titus Theater, where a series of large-format Polaroids by Burton and a group of film posters are also on view.

The Tim Burton retrospective opens Sunday, November 22 and continues through April 26, 2010. The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53^rd Street. New York, NY. (212) 708-9400. The Art of Tim Burton, a comprehensive, 434-page compilation of forty years of Burton's artistry, is available in the bookstore. Click here for the screening schedule of Tim Burton films at MoMA.

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