Roger Antoine Duvoisin (August 28, 1900 – June 30, 1980) was a Swiss-born American writer and illustrator best known for

children's A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person young ...

picture books A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The images ...

. He won the 1948

Caldecott Medal The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Servic ...

for picture books and in 1968 he was a highly commended runner-up for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award for children's illustrators.

Life

Duvoisin was born in

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

, Switzerland, in 1900. He learned to draw early having been encouraged by his father, who was an architect, and his godmother, a well-known painter of enamels. He studied at the

École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs The École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (ÉnsAD, also known as Arts Decos', École des Arts Décoratifs) is a public grande école of art and design of PSL Research University. The school is located in the Rue d'Ulm in Paris. Profi ...

in Paris. His first job was designing scenery, making posters, and painting

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

s. He also became a manager of an old French pottery plant before becoming involved with textile design, an occupation that eventually brought him to the United States. He married Louise Fatio, another artist from Switzerland. In 1927, they moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

where he worked on children's books and magazine illustrations. He became an American citizen in 1938. Duvoisin died in June 1980. He sometimes gave 1904 as his year of birth but he was nearly 80 at his death, born in 1900—the US

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

learned from a publisher, indirectly from his widow."Duvoisin, Roger, 1900–1980"
Library of Congress Authorities. Retrieved 2014-09-14. Jeanne Blackmore, Duvoisin's granddaughter, is also an author with her first children's book, ''How Does Sleep Come?'' published in 2012''.''

Books and awards

Duvoisin wrote his first book in the U.S. He won the

for ''

White Snow, Bright Snow ''White Snow, Bright Snow'' is a 1947 book written by Alvin Tresselt and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin. Released by Lothrop Publishers, it was the recipient of the Caldecott Medal The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to ...

'', written by Alvin Tresselt ( D. Lothrop Co., 1947). The annual American Library Association award recognizes the illustrator of the year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". Their 1965 collaboration ''Hide and Seek Fog'' was one of three Caldecott runners-up. Fatio wrote and Duvoisin illustrated ''The Happy Lion'', a picture book published by McGraw-Hill in 1954. It was her first book and the first of ten Happy Lion books they created together (1954–1980). Its German-language edition (''Der glückliche Löwe'') won the inaugural 1956

Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis The (German Youth Literature Award) is an annual award established in 1956 by the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth to recognise outstanding works of children's and young adult literature. It is Germany's only ...

. Duvoisin both wrote and illustrated a successful series featuring Petunia the goose and Veronica the hippopotamus, inaugurated by ''Petunia'' (Alfred A. Knopf, 1950) and ''Veronica'' (Knopf, 1961; The Bodley Head, 1961). Duvoisin's works also include translation and illustration of medieval European folk tales such as ''The Crocodile in the Tree'' (1973). In 1961, he received an award from the

Society of Illustrators The Society of Illustrators is a professional society based in New York City. It was founded in 1901 to promote the art of illustration and, since 1959, has held an annual exhibition. History Founding The Society of Illustrators was founded on ...

. In 1966, he received the Rugers Bi-Centennial award. His books were published by ''The Bodley Head Ltd'' in London, Sydney and Toronto.

Books

*Donkey–Donkey (1934) *Mother Goose: A Comprehensive Collection of Rhymes (1936) *And There Was America (1938) *Fairy Tales from Switzerland. The Three Sneezes and Other Swiss Tales (1941) *They Put Out To Sea (1944) *The Talking Cat and Other Tales of French Canada by Natalie Savage Carlson illustrated by Roger Duvoisin (1952) *Crocus (1977) *Day and Night (1960) *The Crocodile In The Tree (1972) *Easter Treat (1954) *Happy Lion (1954) *The Happy Hunter (1961) *Hide and Seek Fog (1965) *The House of Four Seasons (1956) *Jasmine (1973) *Our Veronica Goes to Petunia's Farm (1962) *Petunia (1950) *Petunia and the Song (1951) *Petunia's Christmas (1952) *Petunia Takes A Trip (1953) *Petunia, Beware! (1958) *Petunia, I love You (1965) *Petunia's Treasure (1975) *Snowy and Woody (1979) *Spring Snow (1963) *The Miller, His Son, and Their Donkey, a retelling of the

fable Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse (poetry), verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphized, and that illustrat ...

(1962) *The Night Before Christmas (1954) *Veronica's Smile (1964) *The Christmas Whale (1945)

Notes

References

External links

Roger Duvoisin
at Consumer Help Web
Roger Duvoisin 1904–1980
''Mother Goose: A Scholarly Exploration'', ECLIPSE, School of Communication, Information and Library Studies, Rutgers University (''eclipse.rutgers.edu'')

at Picture Book Cottage: Collectible Children's Picture Books * {{DEFAULTSORT:Duvoisin, Roger 1900 births 1980 deaths American children's writers Caldecott Medal winners American children's book illustrators Artists from Geneva Artists from New York City Swiss emigrants to the United States Place of death missing