Women of Edmund Dulac
Even a casual observer of Dulac’s American Weekly illustrations would notice how most of the collection features women as the main characters. Three of the series are devoted strictly to women, and both ‘Song of Solomon’ (with nineteen women and two men) and ‘Beauty and the Beast’, are all about the women characters.
I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say Dulac was a feminist, or perhaps proto-feminist, for his era. He was famously apolitical and never voiced strong opinions publicly. But it was by his portrayal of women that he expressed his sentiments. Although his female characters were often semi-nude, there was never any hint of lewdness or sexual exploitation. His Vamps, Queens and Fighting women are strong, historical figures who helped change history. Three of the series, ‘Myths’, ‘Love Stories’ and ‘Fairyland Lovers’ are about couples’ love affairs. Here the women are portrayed as Goddesses and Heroines, whose personal stories are the essential theme of the illustration.
When conflict is present, as in Queen Esther and Haman, Cleopatra and Anthony, Morgiana and the Chief of the Forty Thieves, and Joan of Arc, it is caused by the male characters. The most vivid example is Thomyris holding the severed head of Cyrus, but it is obvious in these illustrations who is at fault.
In his personal life Dulac lived with his mistress, the writer Helen Beauclerk, after two brief, failed marriages. His second marriage ended in 1924 when his contract with The American Weekly began. Most of the female characters pictured in The American Weekly collection are reflections of Helen’s slim body and high cheekbones. Their relationship was harmonious. Dulac designed the dust jackets, book covers and interior illustrations for her novels. They never married.
The two series featured below are Enchanting Fairyland Lovers from 1932 and Beauty and the Beast from 1937. The Fairyland series was an immediate success, with the very art deco ‘Sleeping Beauty’ picture reproduced by The Studio magazine and sold as an art print for their series of British illustrators. Villeroy and Bosch reproduced the entire series in decorative plates in 1976.
Dulac was able to update several of his earlier paintings in this series, with ‘Ivan and the Chestnut Horse’ first appearing in Edmund Dulac’s Fairy Book of 1916 and ‘The Bird Feng’ from his Picture Book for the French Red Cross of 1915.
Dulac has illustrated Beauty and the Beast earlier as part of The Sleeping Beauty and Other Tales Told from the Old French by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch issued by Hodder and Stoughton in 1910. None of these themes were repeated in the American Weekly series, but the frontispiece for the book was’ The Prince and Sleeping Beauty’ painted during his art nouveau period.
