Gods, Myths and Mortals
In 1923, “Edmund Dulac, the Distinguished English Artist,” as he was billed on the front covers, was contracted by the Hearst organization to paint watercolors for The American Weekly. The contract lasted nearly 30 years. From the 1920’s onward, Dulac’s income came primarily from his American Weekly illustrations. He painted 106 watercolors for thirteen different series from 1924 through 1951.
The two series featured here are the 1931 Love Stories the Ancients Believed In and the 1933 Myths the Ancients Believed. For ‘Love Stories’, Dulac painted the lovers at the moment of their highest drama, according to the interpretation from Ovid’s tales. They were republished in Good Housekeeping magazine and later as book by Hugh Williamson Ross titled Gods and Mortals in Love published by Country Life Books in 1935. It was so popular that Dulac quickly followed up with ‘Myths’. Both are painted in his high art deco tableau style, with the characters frozen in the act. This is the first republishing since then.
What readers are saying about Gods, Myths and Mortals:
In the 1931 series, “Love Stories the Ancients Believed In”, eleven couples have been featured by the artist in a pivotal moment of their relationships. Well, actually ten couples. Poor Eros is unable to be in the frame with Psyche, as she’s preoccupied with trying to get past Cerberus, a giant three headed dog. — Click to Read more of A License to Quill’s Review