1959
Cover jacket for "The Numbers of Our Days", 1959
British illustrator Janina Ede (1937-2018) created covers and illustrations for over 100 books from the 1950s to the 1980s.
CUBA - July 26 - 1968, 1968
Between the 1960s and 1990s, more than fifty designers worked at OSPAAAL. Based in Cuba, they made magazines and posters that were sent around the world. Their aim was to promote radical political ideas. Many of their posters celebrate socialist revolutions and liberation movements from the Global South. From the 1960s, painter Raúl Martinez started working as a graphic designer, drawn to the social impact of posters and magazines. He was known for his portraits of well-known revolutionary icons, but to commemorate the 26th of July Movement he portrayed an anonymous Cuban patriot.
Day of Solidarity with the people of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde - august 3, 1968
Between the 1960s and 1990s, more than fifty designers worked at OSPAAAL (the Organisation of Solidarity with the People of Africa, Asia and Latin America). Based in Cuba, they made magazines and posters that were sent around the world. Their aim was to promote radical political ideas. Many of their posters celebrate socialist revolutions and liberation movements from the Global South. This poster was designed to mark a day of solidarity with liberation movements in Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau seeking independence from Portuguese colonial rule, on the date of the Pidjiguiti massacre. Many OSPAAAL designers combined images of Indigenous art and craft with contemporary weaponry. Their aim was to argue for the right to self-determination and support liberation movements opposing colonial and imperial powers. However, the designers did not always know the meaning or origin of the iconography they used.
Content warning: weaponry
Untitled (rough cover illustration for "The Numbers of Our Days"), c. 1959
British illustrator Janina Ede (1937-2018) created covers and illustrations for over 100 books from the 1950s to the 1980s.
Rough cover illustration for "Carlotta Mc Bride", c. 1959
Janina Ede (1937-2018) created covers and illustrations for over 100 books from the 1950s to the 1980s. One of her earliest cover designs was for Carlotta McBride, a novel following the eponymous character in Paris, New York and Hollywood. It’s descriptions of sex and lesbian relationships led to the book being banned in Australia.
Untitled (rough cover illustration for "The Numbers of Our Days"), c. 1959
British illustrator Janina Ede (1937-2018) created covers and illustrations for over 100 books from the 1950s to the 1980s.
Cover jacket proof for "The Essence of Beauty", 1959
British illustrator Janina Ede (1937-2018) created covers and illustrations for over 100 books from the 1950s to the 1980s. This non-fiction book was an account of the history of perfume and cosmetics.
NO TO THE GUANTANAMO NAVAL BASE!, 1993
Between the 1960s and 1990s, more than fifty designers worked at OSPAAAL. Based in Cuba, they made magazines and posters that were sent around the world. Their aim was to promote radical political ideas. Many of their posters celebrate socialist revolutions and liberation movements from the Global South. In this design, Gladys Acosta Ávila uses an eagle to represent the U.S.A. Its talons are hovering over the south of Cuba where the U.S. military’s Guantanamo Bay Naval Base was established in 1903.
Book cover proof for "Carlotta Mc Bride", 1959
Janina Ede (1937-2018) created covers and illustrations for over 100 books from the 1950s to the 1980s. One of her earliest cover designs was for Carlotta McBride, a novel following the eponymous character in Paris, New York and Hollywood. It’s descriptions of sex and lesbian relationships led to the book being banned in Australia.
Jacqueline Ayer, Untitled, c. 1959
Jacqueline Ayer (1930–2012) had a career that spanned many creative fields. She began as a fashion illustrator, and later turned her hand to children’s books, textiles and garments, as she worked in New York, Paris, London, Bangkok, Hong Kong and across India. 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.
Rough cover illustration for "The Essence of Beauty", 1959
British illustrator Janina Ede (1937-2018) created covers and illustrations for over 100 books from the 1950s to the 1980s. This non-fiction book was an account of the history of perfume and cosmetics.
GUINEA - Day of World Solidarity with the Struggle of the People of so-called Portuguese Guinea and Cape Verde (August 3), 1970
Between the 1960s and 1990s, more than fifty designers worked at OSPAAAL (the Organisation of Solidarity with the People of Africa, Asia and Latin America). Based in Cuba, they made magazines and posters that were sent around the world. Their aim was to promote radical political ideas. Many of their posters celebrate socialist revolutions and liberation movements from the Global South. This poster was designed to mark a day of solidarity with liberation movements in Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau seeking independence from Portuguese colonial rule, on the date of the Pidjiguiti massacre.
Content warning: weaponry
Jacqueline Ayer, Untitled, c. 1959
Jacqueline Ayer (1930–2012) had a career that spanned many creative fields. She began as a fashion illustrator, and later turned her hand to children’s books, textiles and garments, as she worked in New York, Paris, London, Bangkok, Hong Kong and across India.
Jacqueline Ayer, Nu Dang and His Kite, 1959
After moving to Bangkok in 1956, Jacqueline learnt Thai as she was punted around the canals (‘klongs’) of the city by her gardener in a canoe. She would take piles of typewriter paper with her to sketch local people at work. Whilst visiting New York she showed these 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. Ayer wrote and illustrated five of her own books, four of which gave insight into 1960s Thailand to US and UK audiences, while the fifth was set in Hong Kong.
Jacqueline Ayer, Untitled, c. 1959
Jacqueline Ayer (1930–2012) had a career that spanned many creative fields. She began as a fashion illustrator, and later turned her hand to children’s books, textiles and garments, as she worked in New York, Paris, London, Bangkok, Hong Kong and across India. 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.
Jacqueline Ayer, Untitled, c. 1959
Jacqueline Ayer (1930–2012) had a career that spanned many creative fields. She began as a fashion illustrator, and later turned her hand to children’s books, textiles and garments, as she worked in New York, Paris, London, Bangkok, Hong Kong and across India. 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.
