Yacoubi met the American composer and writer
Paul Bowles in Fez in 1947, and later in Tangier. Yacoubi then began doing translations for Bowles. Bowles and his wife, novelist and playwright
Jane Bowles, encouraged Yacoubi to draw and paint the characters in his own stories after seeing Yacoubi's illustrations of his translations. Bowles was interested in recording music from different cultures, and invited Yacoubi to translate for him in Spain, Italy, Turkey, India, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Japan. Bowles then transcribed Yacoubi's own stories from
Maghrebi into English: "The Man and The Woman" (1956), "The Man Who Dreamed of Fish Eating Fish" (1956), and "The Game" (1961). Yacoubi's play
The Night Before Thinking was published in the
Evergreen Review in 1961. In 1964, the play was produced by
La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club at their
East Village theater and at
Lucille Lortel's
White Barn Theater in
Westport, Connecticut. Yacoubi also contributed to set design and construction for productions at La MaMa during the 1970s, including
Arden of Faversham and
Alfred Jarry's
Ubu, directed by
Andrei Serban in 1970, and
Oh Taeseok's
Jilsa, directed by Duk-Hyung Yoo in 1974. The Bowles arranged for Yacoubi's first exhibition of visual work at the
Gallimard bookshop on Boulevard Pasteur in
Tangier. The exhibition was highly acclaimed, and 28 pieces were sold. Later exhibitions were held at the Galerie Clan in
Madrid, the
Betty Parsons Gallery in
New York in 1952, the
Hanover Gallery in
London in 1957, and elsewhere throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. A wide range of notable collectors began acquiring his drawings and paintings, recognizing his talent and artistic integrity. The
Museum of Modern Art in New York, the
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, and the
São Paulo Museum of Modern Art also purchased his works. In 1952, Bowles invited Yacoubi to his island,
Taprobane, off the southern coast of
Sri Lanka. While visiting the island, Yacoubi prepared meals for fellow guest
Peggy Guggenheim, which she mentions in her memoir,
Confessions of an Art Addict (1997)
. Guggenheim purchased several of Yacoubi's drawings. Ahmed Yacoubi evolved from what was described as a primitive style to a sophisticated secret technique of layering in oil glazes that produced canvases of great depth and complexity. Although Yacoubi had already begun painting in oil,
Francis Bacon further encouraged his work by painting four small canvases blue and telling him to "Paint!" according to an anecdote by
Allen Ginsberg. Bacon and Yacoubi painted together and remained friends for the duration of their lives. In 1966, Yacoubi moved to the
United States and continued to work prolifically, exhibit, and travel. He met and hosted a diversity of international artists, writers, art collectors, and politicians. In New York City, he befriended Peggy Hitchcock and her husband,
Walter Bowart, founder of Omen Press. Yacoubi collaborated with friends at the couple's ranch in
Tucson and, through this collaboration, published his cookbook, ''The Alchemist's Cookbook''.
Ellen Stewart curated a Yacoubi retrospective at
La MaMa in 1989, after his death in 1985. The retrospective included a production of
The Night Before Thinking and an exhibition at La MaMa's nonprofit gallery space, La Galleria, at 47 Great Jones Street. == Personal life ==