The Old Testament of Edmund Dulac

Colin White writes about the American Weekly series throughout his Edmund Dulac biography (Studio Vista, London, 1976). These are his comments on “Bible Scenes”-

“The first series, described as being by, ‘The Distinguished English Artist Edmund Dulac’, appeared on 5 October 1924 with a well heralded but inauspicious opening titled “The Angel with the Fiery [sic] Sword drives Adam and Eve out of Eden” which was redeemed only by the magnificent sword in the angel’s hand. There was some excuse for the weakness of this opening picture. Dulac had originally intended portraying “The Birth of Eve”, but his watercolor, which showed both Adam and Eve without navels, was considered controversial.”

I would like to point out how different things are a century later. Several of the ‘Bible Scenes’ illustrations, like Adam and Eve, show frontal nudity, which was not controversial then, but might be now. Any readers offended by nudity should skip over these illustrations and enjoy the rest of the series.

White goes on to describe the problems Dulac faced with the reproduction method, which then enlarged the original by one third, which revealed weaknesses. This was a first attempt to reproduce watercolors in newsprint, which resulted in dull and faded colors. Dulac realized he had to change his technique to allow for the printing process and enlarged his originals so they could be reduced for added sharpness. He also settled for simpler designs with less detail. The rest of the series reproduced well, except for “Ruth” and “The Witch of Endor” which were a bit faded with poor color separation.

In two of the series Dulac experimented with cubism, started by Picasso and followed by many other artists. Both “Samson Pulls down the Pillars” and “The Fall of Jericho” show a scene of chaos perfect for the cubist rendering. All the elements are scattered and rearranged as they fall into place.

Joshua brings down the walls of Jericho, one of Dulac’s cubist illustrations from 1924, from the later publication in the Illustrated London News 

In 1930 Dulac started drawings for “The Book of Revelations” which he wanted to include as a series. He completed “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” and “The Scarlet Woman of Babylon” both in a rather morbid style for which he was unaccustomed. The series was never completed and his second Bible Stories was the lovely 1936 “Song of Solomon”.

For this series Dulac used a light palette, with bright outdoor scenes and well-lit interiors, picturing young lovers and wistful slave girls playing lutes. This is the opposite of ‘Bible Scenes’ with its Old Testament wrath and fire and brimstone. ‘Song of Solomon’ is about love and beauty, as expressed in the lines from the Bible which caption the text.

We have a little sister” from Song of Solomon

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