Ian Falconer passed away on Tuesday(07-03-2023) in Rowayton, Connecticut. He was best known as the illustrator and writer of the cherished Olivia children’s book series, which featured a witty and intelligent young pig. The 63-year-old designer was also a novelist, artist, and stage set and costume designer.
The first Olivia book was released in 2000 and was written as a Christmas present in 1996 for Falconer’s then-3-year-old niece Olivia.
The author later wrote and illustrated seven more books, the last of which was Olivia the Spy. The series has more than 10 million volumes sold, spent more than a year on the New York Times bestseller list, and garnered numerous accolades.
Ian Falconer Death
Beginning in 1996, Falconer started to create cover art for The New Yorker. Over his career, he made 30 magazine covers. While Anne Schwartz was a children’s book publisher at Simon & Schuster at the time, this piece initially drew her attention.
According to Schwartz in an interview with NPR, Falconer was more interested in showing her the 100-page draft of Olivia than the book project she had planned to hire him to illustrate. Schwartz said-
“You could tell immediately that this was something really, really special. “I thought to myself, this is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. I’ve just really gotten lucky here.”
According to Schwartz, Olivia stood out from most other books in the congested children’s book market. Schwartz said-
“One thing that was very special about it is the whole book was in red and black and picture books at that time were full color. To see something so stark and graphically striking was unusual.”
“There was also this fantastic character of Olivia that just jumped off the pages. In every single picture, I knew that kids would be able to connect with her.”Falconer, a Ridgefield, Connecticut native born in 1959, first specialized in painting at the Parsons School of Design and the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles after completing a course in art history at New York University.
Falconer developed his skills as a theater designer while working with David Hockney on sets and costumes for Los Angeles Opera productions in the late 1980s and early 1990s. From there, Falconer went on to design sets and costumes for prestigious companies worldwide, such as Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, New York City Ballet, and The Royal Opera.
Theater critic Ben Brantley of The New York Times said this about Ian Falconer’s cartoon cutout set for The Atlantic Theater’s production of The Santaland Diaries: “The cartoon cutout set by Ian Falconer looks chic in its monochromatic grayness.”
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Stage and screenwriter Jeff Whitty remarked, “Their relationship blossomed into a lifelong friendship and an artistic collaboration lasting many years.” Falconer had a close friendship with the Avenue Q book author, who received a Tony Award for his work.
Ian Falconer never stopped looking to his relatives for ideas for his writings. For instance, his sister’s kids inspired the dachshund adventure film Two Dogs (2022).
“Ian pointed out beauty in the overlooked,” Whitty said. “He balanced bright, boyish curiosity and the wisdom of a grizzled sage.”
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