The American Weekly Covers of Edmund Dulac 1924-1951

By Albert Seligman

This is the first complete collection of the 106 full color Hearst Sunday supplement American Weekly covers painted by the renown English artist Edmund Dulac. He was one of the founding members of the “Golden Age of Illustration” with Arthur Rackham, Kay Nielsen, Harry Clark, Heath Robinson and others on both sides of the Atlantic.
The collection was mentioned in detail in both Colin White’s biography "Edmund Dulac", and in Ann Hughey’s, "Edmund Dulac - His Book Illustrations: A Bibliography", however only a few of the covers were ever reproduced and no complete collection has ever before been compiled.

This eBook was produced with scans from high-quality photographs taken of each of the covers painted for The American Weekly magazine between 1924 through the last series in 1951. The magazines were carefully removed from the Comic Art Museum of San Francisco and professionally photographed one at a time. This is the first compilation of all thirteen of Dulac’s works in the American Weekly series. These beautiful paintings were an important part of Dulac's artistic output after World War I but remain unavailable since their original publication.

Dulac emigrated to England from France in 1904 and was in London at exactly the right time for the invention of color separation photographic reproduction. Prior to color separation process printers relied on wood blocks or expensive and technically complicated chromo-lithography to include color illustrations in their books. Most illustrators (Arthur Rackham and Heath Robinson for example) used line drawings to hold the difference in the color changes. Dulac was a watercolorist and this new technique allowed him to paint the colors just as he normally would for a painting, without bold lines defining his subjects. He received numerous commissions for the new gift books with full color tipped-in plates mounted on heavy art paper. He enjoyed success until World War I halted gift book production forever.

In 1923, “Edmund Dulac, the Distinguished English Artist,” as he was billed on the covers, was contracted by the Hearst organization to paint watercolors for their Sunday supplement magazine The American Weekly. From the 1920’s onward Dulac’s income came primarily from his American Weekly work. His evolution as a painter from his early book illustrative works through cubism, poster art, portraiture and photo realism is beautifully displayed in these series of watercolors. This collection is a truly important chronicle of 20th century popular artwork and the evolution of color printing as we enjoy it today.

This project was started in the 1990's before the internet and was originally to be produced as an analog art book.. However, the cost of the project became prohibitive. This all-digital version has proved to be a better alternative as it provides a more detailed view of each artwork and is an affordable product that everyone can enjoy.

We hope you are as delighted with this long overdue presentation of Dulac’s American Weekly covers as we are in publishing it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Albert Seligman
• Release date: Sep 21, 2021
• ISBN: 9780578950877

Albert Seligman

As an avid Edmund Dulac fan I was unable to locate any copies of this large body of work. Although they were published over 25 years there was no reference which contained all the covers. This was a long term project to finally bring these delightful watercolors published as magazine covers to light.

Book preview

THE AMERICAN WEEKLY COVERS OF EDMUND DULAC

1924-1951

106 Full Color Covers

Collectors Edition

Albert Seligman

Smashwords Edition

CONTENTS

Introduction

The Project

Bible Scenes and Heroes

1924

Characters from the Arabian Nights

1925

Famous Vamps of History

1929

Love Stories the Ancients Believed In

1931

Enchanting Fairyland Lovers

1932

Myths the Ancients Believed

1933

Follies that Destroyed Famous Queens

1934

Song of Solomon

1936

Beauty and the Beast

1937

Fighting Women

1938

Seven Tales of Arthur's Court

1940

Eight Canterbury Tales

1942

The Arabian Nights

1950-1951

INTRODUCTION

Edmund Dulac remains a popular illustrator nearly 70 years after his passing in 1953. He was one of the founding members of the Golden Age of Illustration with Arthur Rackham, Kay Nielsen, Harry Clark, Heath Robinson, and others on both sides of the Atlantic.

Dulac emigrated to England from France in 1904 and was in London at exactly the right time for the invention