Original artist’s book, 6.25 × 7.75 inches. Ten pages, rectos only, on heavy fibrous handmade paper; suede-like textile-covered flexible boards, exposed bamboo spine secured with ties. Illustrated throughout with original mixed-media collages incorporating painted and applied papers, photographic imagery, and interactive fold-out elements. Signed and dated “Leyah Jensen 99” on the final leaf.
An extraordinary early bookwork by Danish-born American artist, photographer, illustrator, and children’s-book author Leyah Jensen, now Leyah Jensen Marshall. Conceived as an artist’s book for children, A Story of Color translates the history of school segregation and Brown v. Board of Education into an intimate, tactile narrative. Jensen moves from segregated neighborhood schools through Thurgood Marshall, the Brown decision, resistance to integration, and ultimately an integrated community, combining spare text with hand-painted collage and historical photographic imagery. Several photographs unfold or extend from the page, making the physical act of discovery integral to the telling.
The book is particularly notable as a precursor to Jensen’s subsequent work in children’s publishing, where photography, illustration, and interactive book structures became recurring elements of her practice. Here those disciplines remain united in a single handmade object: Jensen serves simultaneously as author, illustrator, photographer/book artist, designer, and fabricator. Apparently unpublished and possibly unique; no other copy or bibliographical record located. Light rubbing to the extremities; a few small dents and a vertical crease to the front cover; natural irregularities inherent in the handmade materials and construction. Collages and movable elements remain well preserved.
Original artist’s book, 6.25 × 7.75 inches. Ten pages, rectos only, on heavy fibrous handmade paper; suede-like textile-covered flexible boards, exposed bamboo spine secured with ties. Illustrated throughout with original mixed-media collages incorporating painted and applied papers, photographic imagery, and interactive fold-out elements. Signed and dated “Leyah Jensen 99” on the final leaf.
An extraordinary early bookwork by Danish-born American artist, photographer, illustrator, and children’s-book author Leyah Jensen, now Leyah Jensen Marshall. Conceived as an artist’s book for children, A Story of Color translates the history of school segregation and Brown v. Board of Education into an intimate, tactile narrative. Jensen moves from segregated neighborhood schools through Thurgood Marshall, the Brown decision, resistance to integration, and ultimately an integrated community, combining spare text with hand-painted collage and historical photographic imagery. Several photographs unfold or extend from the page, making the physical act of discovery integral to the telling.
The book is particularly notable as a precursor to Jensen’s subsequent work in children’s publishing, where photography, illustration, and interactive book structures became recurring elements of her practice. Here those disciplines remain united in a single handmade object: Jensen serves simultaneously as author, illustrator, photographer/book artist, designer, and fabricator. Apparently unpublished and possibly unique; no other copy or bibliographical record located. Light rubbing to the extremities; a few small dents and a vertical crease to the front cover; natural irregularities inherent in the handmade materials and construction. Collages and movable elements remain well preserved.
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