Hilaire Harzberg Hiler was an American in Paris in the 1920s, a painter, muralist, costume designer, jazz pianist, often performing with his pet monkey, and proprietor of the popular ex-patriate hang-out, frequented by Miller, Hemingway, Kiki and Nin among others, The Jockey. Though best known for his colour theories, Hiler was a keen collector of costume books and, with his father, Meyer, complied a Bibliography of Costume in 1939. Here, his interest in costume, anthropology and psychology combine in an exhaustive global study regarding the origin of clothing, including sections on tattooing, body painting and jewellery.
Pasted to the reverse of the portrait photograph, stamped ‘Acme Newspictures’, is an intriguing slip concerning the resignation of Hiler as UPA Art director following ‘the introduction of red blush bar-room furniture into rooms of the Aquatic Park Project [San Francisco].’