Edmund Dulac is a famous illustrator who set out to study law by the order of his parents, but had a deep passion for art. Dulac was born in 1882 in Toulouse, France. By the age of 15, his efforts outranked those of his peers. He learned and developed his passion for art from watching his father – a traveling salesperson who restored and traded in paintings- during his leisure time he created water color paintings of his own. Dulac attended the University of Toulouse to study law, but was allowed to study art at night because art was not a career of prestige. However, by the age of 30 he was one of the most highly sought illustrators in the world. He moved to London and was commissioned to illustrate for the novels of the Bronte Sisters. Additionally, he produced relief books during World War 1 and designed banknotes and stamps during World War 2. Some of his works included: Stories from the Arabian Nights(1907), The Tempest (Shakespeare, 1908), The Bells and other Poems (Edgar Allen Poe, 1912), The Sleeping Beauty and other Fairy Tales
Illustration for “The Tempest” written by William Shakespeare, illustrated by Edmund Dulac
(1910) and many more. The industrial age led to the reproduction of colorful paintings which led to the growing popularity of children’s picture books. Different from other illustrators, Dulac was fascinated by pigment and pattern and seemed out of place with the Native French. He won several awards for his work at Ecole de Beaux Arts.
Illustration for “The Bells” written by Edgar Allen Poe, illustrated by Edmund Dulac
