About
In 2018, The People’s Picture was commissioned by Penguin Ventures to create a giant photo mosaic of The Snowman, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the original picture book. The public was invited to send in their festive photos; preparing for winter and memories from the past 40 years. The photo mosaic was available to visit at Brighton Museum from 4th December to 6th January 2018. We collected a staggering 2,626 photos over just 6 weeks.
Artwork
From Dali’s Mae West-lips sofa to George IV’s outsized breeches, the eclectic Brighton Museum and Art Gallery houses collections of international and local importance. In 1982 The Snowman was adapted for screen. Raymond spent 25 years teaching illustration at the Brighton School of Art between 1961 and 1986, so was the perfect place for the commemorative exhibition.
Gallery
The Snowman flying through the skies complemented an exhibition of Raymond Briggs’ original artworks. The Snowman was created by Briggs in 1978.
Narrated through his wonderful hand-drawn illustrations; it tells the magical story of a boy whose snowman comes to life. Loved by generations, fans of The Snowman were invited to upload photographs of their fondest festive memories or moments from the past 40 years to form this giant tribute piece.
The final artwork was donated to Raymond’s charity of choice, Chestnut Tree House and was auctioned off as part of their annual festive fundraising initiative. Chestnut Tree House is a children’s charity providing hospice care services and community support for children and young people.
Opened
Yearly Events
Yearly Visitors
Photo Mosaic
Explore
The Snowman is composed of photos submitted by the public. It is also available to explore as a huge giga pixel image online in deep zoom. Zoom in and explore the collected eyes closed selfies of all those who took part from the comfort of your phone or armchair. Gigapixels are huge photographic images. They can be viewed on-screen in an interactive format, or as very large format prints with an incredible amount of detail.
“The pictures, as a whole, reveal the full range of human emotion expressing love, loss and celebration which are the ultimate themes of The Snowman story. Some of the pictures also have stories that are compelling and important. There’s been an overwhelming response from the public and we’ve loved looking through the images together.”
Helen Marshall | The People’s Picture founder
Izzy Richardson | Head of Brand for The Snowman
Copyright © Snowman Enterprises Limited 2018.
THE SNOWMAN™ is a trade mark of Snowman Enterprises Limited. ‘The Snowman’ by Raymond Briggs