'Their relationship blossomed into a lifelong friendship and an artistic collaboration lasting many years,' said stage and screenwriter Jeff Whitty. Of his set design for The Atlantic Theater's production of The Santaland Diaries, The New York Times' theater critic Ben Brantley, wrote, 'The cartoon cutout set by Ian Falconer looks totally chic in its monochromatic grayness.' In every single picture, I knew that kids would be able to connect with her.'īorn in 1959 in Ridgefield, Conn., Falconer studied art history at New York University before focusing on painting at the Parsons School of Design and the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles.Īfter incubating his talent as a theater designer with David Hockney, assisting the renowned artist with sets and costumes for Los Angeles Opera productions in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Falconer went on to create set and/or costume designs for top-tier companies around the world, including Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, New York City Ballet and The Royal Opera. 'There was also this amazing character of Olivia that just really jumped off the pages. To see something so stark and graphically striking was unusual,' said Schwartz. '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. Schwartz said Olivia stood out from most other titles in the crowded children's book field. 'I thought to myself, this is unlike anything I've ever seen before.

'You could tell immediately that this was something really, really special,' said Schwartz. In an interview with NPR, Schwartz said she planned to commission Falconer to illustrate another author's book project, but he was more interested in showing her what was then the 100-page draft of Olivia. It was this work that first caught the eye of Anne Schwartz, then a children's book publisher at Simon & Schuster. He produced 30 magazine covers over his career. In 1996, Falconer started illustrating covers for The New Yorker. The series has sold more than 10 million copies, stayed on the New York Times Bestseller List for over a year, and won numerous awards. The author went on to illustrate and write seven sequels, culminating with Olivia the Spy in 2017.

Olivia by falconer