Roger Duvoisin (August 28, 1900 – June 30, 1980) was an American writer and illustrator of Swiss origin, best known for his children’s picture books.
Roger Duvoisin was born in Geneva. He studied at the École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. He began his career as a decorator and designer, designed scenery, developed fabric designs, and was engaged in interior painting. In 1927, he moved with his wife, the Swiss artist Louise Fatio, to New York; 11 years later, he became a US citizen.
Duvoisin wrote his first book in America. In 1947, the book he illustrated, White Snow, Bright Snow, written by Alvin Tresselt, was awarded the prestigious American prize for picture books, the Caldecott Medal. In 1965, almost twenty years later, another book created in collaboration with Tresselt, Hide and Seek Fog, also received the Caldecott Medal.
In 1954, the first book in the series The Happy Lion was published, created by Duvoisin in collaboration with his wife Louise Fatio; the couple published ten books about the adventures of the happy lion, the last one, The Happy Lioness, was published in 1980. In 1956, the German edition of the book received the national prize, the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis.
Awards and prizes
In 1948, he was awarded the Caldecott Medal for the book White Snow, Bright Snow (author Alvin Tresselt)
In 1961, he was honored by the New York Society of Illustrators
In 1968, he took second place in the Biennial of the International H.C. Andersen Award
The classic Caldecott Medal–winning picture book about a neighborhood transformed by a delightful snowfall, from the legendary picture book duo Alvin Tresselt and Roger Duvoisin. When the first flakes fell from the grey sky, the postman and the farmer and the policeman and his wife scurried about doing all the […]
