The American Weekly Covers of Edmund Dulac 1924-1951: 106 Full Color Covers Collectors Edition

Albert Seligman

Aug 2021 · Dulac eBooks

About this ebook

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 covers were 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 San Francisco Academy of Comic Art and professionally photographed one at a time. This is the first compilation of all thirteen of Dulac’s watercolors 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.

The original idea was to compile the images into a high gloss art book. However, the cost of the project became prohibitive. This all-digital version proved to be a better alternative as it provides a more detailed view of each artwork and is an affordable product that all 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.

Ratings and reviews

This is the first complete collection of the 106 full color Hearst American Weekly Sunday supplement 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 published. This eBook was produced with scans from high-quality photographs taken of each of the covers painted for Hearst corporation’s The American Weekly Magazine from 1924 through the last series in 1951. The magazines were carefully removed from the Academy of Comic Art of San Francisco and professionally photographed one at a time. This is the first compilation of all thirteen of Dulac’s series in the American Weekly magazine. These beautiful paintings were an important part of Dulac's artistic output after World War I but remain unavailable since their original publication. I am the editor and recommend this ebook to anyone interested in Edmund Dulac or other Golden Age Illustrators or the history of comic art in the US during the 20th century. Two of the series contain text written by John Erskine, who was a very famous author,professor and musician.

From my view, this is a wonderful collection. Book and magazine illustrators are often overlooked for their contributions. They get lost in the bibliographic shuffle. To come upon this collection is a wonder. Albert Seligman has definitely filled a gaping hole in Dulac's visibility. I applaud his focus and his success in finding and sharing these pictures. Good art such as this deserves to find its audience, and we are all the richer for it. I have taken in all that's available in the preview, and am looking forward to the complete set revealing itself. What a fine surprise. - Roland Trenary, author of Mahlon Blaine ~ One-Eyed Visionary.

About the author

As a long time illustrated book collector I was always fascinated by Edmund Dulac. After the first World War his gift books dwindled and the majority of his work came from American commissions, mainly three books for George Macy of The Limited Editions Club and W.R.Hearst, the newspaper baron. I wanted to collect these watercolors too, but I only found a few reproductions in other magazines. Colin White ( Edmund Dulac Biography, 1976) listed the complete series of The American Weekly front covers for the Hearst newspapers, but there was no collection of all 106 watercolors that Dulac painted. I found all the covers in the Comic Art Museum (SF) and had them photographed. I am proud to publish this complete collection so that these beautiful and important paintings can finally be enjoyed.