The Snowman is Raymond Briggs’ best-known work and has sold 5.5 million copies worldwide
The British author and illustrator Raymond Briggswhose album The Snowman enchanted generations of children around the world, has died at the age of 88, his family announced today.
“We know that Raymond’s books have touched millions of people around the world who will be saddened by this news“, his relatives said in the announcement.
“The Snowman”, a 1978 textless album drawn with colored pencils, is Raymond Briggs’ best-known work and has sold 5.5 million copies worldwide. Its hero is a little boy with red hair, who makes a snowman with his hands, which comes to life.
An animated film was made in 1982 based on this album and featured an introduction by singer David Bowie. The film and its unforgettable music have remained associated with the magic of Christmas ever since.
“He loved the sketches of his fans, especially those of children, and hung them on the wall of his studio“, his family said.
“Everyone around him knew his irreverent humor, which could be biting when it came to power. He liked the article in The Guardian newspaper which described him as an ‘iconoclastic national treasure’“, the same source added.
Raymond Briggs’ most famous works are inspired by his own life and nostalgic for the England of his childhood in the 1930s and 1940s in Wimbledon, southwest London.
His work refers to the history of British society in the 20th century, reflecting social classes, education and the development of politics.
“Father Christmas” was Raymond Briggs’ first big hit. In this album, Santa Claus is a grumpy old man who hates the cold and snow and finds it very tiring to deliver presents.
‘Fungus the Bogeyman’, another of his classic albums released in 1977, has as its hero a rather repulsive creature with existential anxieties. Raymond Briggs had confessed that he was inspired by himself – “a middle-aged man, miserable, frustrated and bad-tempered” – to create this hero.
More recently, in 2019, Raymond Briggs dealt with aging and death in a melancholic album (“Time for Lights Out”). He also collaborated with ‘The Oldie’, a magazine created as a ‘cheerful alternative to a press obsessed with youth and celebrity’.
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