Weisgard was born in
New Haven, Connecticut, and spent most of his childhood in England. He studied art at the
Pratt Institute in New York City. His first book,
Suki the Siamese Pussy, was published in 1937, and his first collaboration with Brown was two years later,
The Noisy Book. He won the 1948
Caldecott Medal for U.S.
picture book illustration, recognizing
The Little Island, written by Brown. They collaborated again on
The Important Book, published by Harper & Brothers in 1949. Altogether, Weisgard illustrated at least 14 of Brown's books, including two that were published posthumously. (Brown wrote the text for six books that were published as by "Golden MacDonald". All were unpaged picture books illustrated by Weisgard and published by Doubleday.) The same year, Weisgard received the Caldecott Honor for his illustrations in the book “Rain Drop Splash” authored by Alvin Tresselt. He was the first to be awarded the Caldecott Medal and the Caldecott Honor in the same year. Writer
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings was a
Newbery Medal runner-up in 1956 for
The Secret River, which Weisgard illustrated. He also illustrated
Alice Dalgliesh's
The Courage of Sarah Noble, a 1955 Newbery Medal runner-up. Weisgard married Phyllis Monnot in 1951 and moved to
Copenhagen, Denmark, with her and their three children in 1969. He died on January 14, 2000, in Denmark. ==References==