Jacqueline Ayer: Drawing on Thailand

Explore the work of fashion illustrator, textile designer and author, Jacqueline Ayer.

This exhibition focuses on Ayer's years in Bangkok, Thailand (1956-63). Inspired by the people, patterns and places around her, she created vibrant children's books and launched her textile company, Design Thai. Through lively illustration and screen-printed textiles, she brought a vision of Thai life to the USA and the UK.

To navigate through the exhibition, please click the left and right arrows below.

Background: Endpapers from The Paper Flower Tree (1962), Photolithograph, Collins © Jacqueline Ayer, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Drawing of a housing block in black ink on white paper, sepia photo of Jacqueline Ayer, a young Black woman

Born in New York in 1930 to Jamaican parents, Jacqueline Ayer grew up in a workers’ cooperative in the Bronx.

In 1950, Ayer moved to Paris to study art, where she worked as a fashion illustrator for Vogue Paris, modelled for magazines and featured in a surrealist film by avante-garde artist Hans Richter. On moving back to New York four years later, she became a designer for high-end department store Bonwit Teller alongside a young Andy Warhol.

Left: Bronx Park East NY (2009), Ink on paper, © Jacqueline Ayer, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Right: Jacqueline Ayer (date and photographer unknown), Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Open handmade book with a dark green cover and drawings of dancers in black ink

As a child and throughout her artistic career, Ayer experimented with book layouts, bringing images together in a sequential format as she made gifts for friends and family.

Image: Handmade book for Charli (c. 1954), Ink on paper, © Jacqueline Ayer, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Photograph of Jacqueline Ayer, a young Black woman, holding her toddler daughter, with a leafy background behind, and drawing in black and green ink on white paper of children playing

"As a total contrast to the rush and pull of New York, Bangkok was at its best, still sleeping in a leafy and floral haze."

In 1956, Ayer moved to Bangkok. She learnt Thai as she was punted around the canals (‘klongs’) by her gardener in a canoe.

Ayer would take piles of typewriter paper with her to sketch local people at work or play.

Left: Jacqueline with her daughter Margot (1958), Photographer unknown, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Right: Untitled (c. 1956), Ink and watercolour on paper, © Jacqueline Ayer, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Drawing in black ink of delivery man on a bicycle, and black ink drawing of market-goer wearing a hat and holding basket on a stick over their shoulder

Left: Untitled (c. 1956), Ink on paper, © Jacqueline Ayer, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Right: Untitled (c. 1956), Ink on paper, © Jacqueline Ayer, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Book cover, dark pink and orange with black line drawings of figures in canoes and a boy with a kite

Whilst visiting New York, Ayer showed her drawings to Margaret McElderry, a children’s book editor at Harcourt Brace, and the response was positive. She was advised to write a story from what she saw around her in Thailand, and the result was her first children’s book, Nu Dang and His Kite (1959).

Image: Cover of Nu Dang and His Kite (1959), Photolithograph, Harcourt, Brace & World, © Jacqueline Ayer, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Black and white photograph showing a person in a canoe on a canal in Bangkok, black ink drawing on white paper of a person in a canoe holding a paddle and wearing a hat, black and green ink drawing of a boy in a canoe with a cloud over his head

Nu Dang and His Kite follows a young Thai boy as he hunts for his lost kite through the markets and canals of Bangkok.

Using reportage drawing to create books about Southeast Asia for children was a unique and refreshing approach.

Left: Canoes in Bangkok (c. 1959), Photographer unknown, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Centre: Untitled (c. 1956), Ink on paper, © Jacqueline Ayer, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Right: Page from Nu Dang and His Kite (1959), Photolithograph, Harcourt, Brace & World, © Jacqueline Ayer, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Pencil drawing by Jacqueline Ayer of people wading in a canal, and page from Jacqueline Ayer's book, Nu Dang and His Kite, showing children wading in a canal, drawn in black ink on a green background

Left: Untitled (1956), Pencil on paper, © Jacqueline Ayer, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Right: Page from Nu Dang and His Kite (1959), Photolithograph, Harcourt, Brace & World, © Jacqueline Ayer, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Black and white photograph of two children holding kites, illustrated book page with children flying kites drawn in black ink with red detail

Ayer also took inspiration from the experiences of her two daughters, Margot and Bet. Her children would play with kites in the shape of animals, or miniature versions of those used in the annual traditional Thai fighter kite battle at Sanam Luang.

Left: Margot and Bet with kites (c. 1963), © Jacqueline Ayer, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Right: Page from Nu Dang and His Kite (1959), Photolithograph, Harcourt, Brace & World, © Jacqueline Ayer, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Book cover has turquoise and yellow background with line drawings of a group of children. Inside illustration of a silk workshop with people using spinning wheels against a yellow background with a white doorway.

In 1957, Ayer began working for designer Jim Thompson at his company Thai Silk, and was one of the first people in Thailand to print on silk using large wooden blocks. This experience fed into her book, A Wish for Little Sister (1960), a story about a little girl from a weaving family who receives a birthday wish from a mynah bird.

Left: Cover of A Wish for Little Sister (1960), Photolithograph, Harcourt, Brace & Company, © Jacqueline Ayer, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Right: Page from A Wish for Little Sister (1960), Photolithograph, Harcourt, Brace & Company, © Jacqueline Ayer, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Black ink and pencil drawing of Thai dancers with orange and yellow details, and black, white and yellow illustration with a young girl in the foreground with a black bird, and dancers in the background

Ayer created her illustrations on layers of tracing paper, similar to the technique she used for her screen-printed fabric designs. Each sheet of paper would represent a different colour, and she would draw on them in black and send them to the USA for printing, without even a chance to test the result.

Left: Untitled (1959), Ink and pencil on paper, © Jacqueline Ayer, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Right: Page from A Wish for Little Sister (1960), Photolithograph, Harcourt, Brace & Company, © Jacqueline Ayer, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Book cover of The Paper-Flower Tree, illustrated with four children in colourful clothes and a border of green leaves

Ayer’s eldest daughter, Margot, remembers the experience that inspired her mother’s third picturebook, The Paper-Flower Tree (1962). Instead of buying one paper flower from a tradesman, her mother bought the entire tree – leaving Margot anxious that he would no longer have a livelihood.

Image: Cover of The Paper-Flower Tree (1962), Photolithograph, Collins, © Jacqueline Ayer, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Black and white photograph of two girls with a tree made from paper, string, tassels and balloons. Illustration of a man holding a similar tree, drawn in pencil with foliage in bright colours

Left: Bet and Margot with the Paper-Flower tree (1962), © Jacqueline Ayer, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Right: Page from The Paper-Flower Tree (1962), Photolithograph, Collins, © Jacqueline Ayer, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Cotton doll wearing black headdress and red silk dress, and cover of Little Silk book which has bright red, green and blue patterns and an illustration of the doll.

Ayer’s fifth book, Little Silk (1970), is about a lost doll who eventually finds her way to a loving home. It was based on a real doll that belonged to the Ayers, and is set in Hong Kong, where Ayer lived with her daughters from 1963 to 1965.

Left: Little Silk doll, Cotton and silk, Photo © Justin Piperger, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Right: Cover of Little Silk (1970), Photolithograph, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. New York, © Jacqueline Ayer, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Black and white photograph of two young women holding and looking at patterned dresses while one sits on a chaiselongue, and a painting of a floral pattern in pink, red and green.

In the early 1960s, Jacqueline Ayer founded textile and garment company Design Thai.

The first printed fabrics were inspired by ancient Thai designs from carvings, temples, porcelains, and printed cloths in the vaults of the National Museum Bangkok.

Design Thai opened a shop in Bangkok in 1962, and expanded to offer a line of ready-to-wear clothing.

Left: Jacqueline at work at Design Thai (c. 1962), Photographer unknown, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Three black ink drawings on white paper of people in national dress. All three are wearing hats and long garments and carrying produce.

Since working as a fashion illustrator in Paris, Ayer had been interested in costumes, national dress and garments. She also had the ability to bring her sketches into reality through her dress-making skills that she had learned from her mother, who had been a pattern-cutter for the International Ladies’ Garments Workers’ Union in New York.

Four black and white photographs showing a young woman talking with colleagues and looking at drawings, and laughing with a colleague as they dress a mannequin. Colour photograph of nine women in colourful dresses in an office with drawings on the walls.

"I had a tailor, one old man and an older Singer machine, and I put together our first Design Thai collection. It was about eighty pieces ready for our grand opening. We sold every piece on the first day, and we were seriously in the garment business."

In the 1960s, Design Thai went from strength to strength, opening branches in New York and Hong Kong.

Left: Jacqueline with Design Thai Staff (1965), Contact sheet, Unpublished photographs by Harry Redl for TIME Magazine, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Right: Fabric room at the Design Thai factory (1964), Photographer unknown, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Newspaper cutting with illustration of three people wearing Thai garments, and photograph of a gallery space with a blue dress and a pink and orange tunic on metal frames.

Left: Drawings by Jacqueline Ayer for article ‘Thailand Adventure’ (Joan Rattner, This Week magazine, 18 November 1965), Letterpress, Courtesy of Bet Ayer

Right: Design Thai dress and tunic (courtesy of Hannah Webb), Photograph from House of Illustration exhibition, Jacqueline Ayer: Drawing on Thailand (2017), © Paul Grover

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Jacqueline Ayer: Drawing on Thailand

Explore the work of fashion illustrator, textile designer and author, Jacqueline Ayer.

This exhibition focuses on Ayer's years in Bangkok, Thailand (1956–63). Inspired by the people, patterns and places around her, she created vibrant children's books and launched her textile company, Design Thai. Through lively illustration and screen-printed textiles, she brought a vision of Thai life to the USA and the UK.

To navigate through the exhibition, please click the left and right arrows below.

Alt text — Untitled (c. 1956), Ink and watercolour on paper, © Jacqueline Ayer, Courtesy of Bet Ayer