mammybearsbooks Blog Edmund_Dulac 20190409

Mammy Bears Books 9 April 2019 · Looking at Illustrators... One of my all time favourite artists is EDMUND DULAC (1882-1953). I think we often see Dulac as a 19th century artist, however he was working chiefly in the early to mid 20th century in Britain - to where he moved in 1904 and became a naturalised British Citizen in 1912. "Settling in London's Holland Park, the 22-year-old Frenchman was commissioned by the publisher J. M. Dent to illustrate Jane Eyre.[1] and nine other volumes of works by the Brontë sisters. He then became a regular contributor to The Pall Mall Magazine, and joined the London Sketch Club, which introduced him to the foremost book and magazine illustrators of the day. Through these he began an association with the Leicester Galleries and Hodder & Stoughton; the gallery commissioned illustrations from Dulac which they sold in an annual exhibition, while publishing rights to the paintings were taken up by Hodder & Stoughton for reproduction in illustrated gift books, publishing one book a year. Books produced under this arrangement by Dulac include Stories from The Arabian Nights (1907) with 50 colour images; an edition of William Shakespeare's The Tempest (1908) with 40 colour illustrations; The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (1909) with 20 colour images; The Sleeping Beauty and Other Fairy Tales (1910); Stories from Hans Christian Andersen (1911); The Bells and Other Poems by Edgar Allan Poe (1912) with 28 colour images and many monotone illustrations; and Princess Badoura (1913). " Wikipedia During the First World War he contributed to many relief books, including 'King Albert's Book' (1914) and 'Princess Mary's Gift Book'. After the war his career turned in a different direction to newspaper caricatures, portraiture, theatre costume, set design and bookplates, along with sundry other graphic work including stamp design. He was a truly versatile and gifted artist and I think is best remembered for his lavish deluxe illustrated editions pre WW1, my favourite being his illustrations in 'The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam' (1909).