House of Illustration
2 Granary Square
London
N1C 4BH
United Kingdom
Jacqueline Ayer's picture books were a remarkable addition to 1960s America. Documenting her family's life around the back lanes of Bangkok, they were the first books published in the US to depict Asian culture authentically. The Paper-Flower Tree and Nu Dang and his Kite will be reissued by Enchanted Lion Books to coincide with the exhibition, for the first time in almost 60 years.
Born in 1930s New York to Jamaican parents, Ayer grew up with Milton Glaser in the first interracial housing in the US. She illustrated for Vogue and worked alongside Andy Warhol before moving to Thailand in the 1950s.
Whilst there she also founded fashion company Design Thai, creating textiles and garments without colonial overtones - her reference book Oriental Fashion is still used by London College of Fashion today.