Weird Tales (September, 1938). Cover Art by Margaret Brundage
Cover artist Margaret Brundage (1900-1976) sold 66 original pulp cover illustrations to Weird Tales from 1933 to 1945. Her covers were signed “M. Brundage” and were very popular with readers, but most of the public wasn’t aware the artist was female. When puritanical social forces complained about the overt sexuality of the art, the editor finally revealed that the artist was a woman, hoping to mollify the perceived offensiveness of her work.
As a woman in a field dominated by men, Brundage brought a unique aesthetic to pulp art. Most of her work was created with pastels on illustration board and often featured fantasy scenes of women trapped in sexually vulnerable situations. Brundage continued to create fantasy scenes in pastels for the rest of her life but was unable to find a steady publisher of her work after the publisher of Weird Tales moved to New York City in 1938. After a divorce from a drunken husband and the death of her only son, Brundage’s later years were spent in relative poverty. Check out the “Field Guide to Wild American Pulp Artists” for more on Brundage (www.pulpartists.com/Brundage.html).
Weird Tales (September, 1938). Cover Art by Margaret Brundage
Cover artist Margaret Brundage (1900-1976) sold 66 original pulp cover illustrations to Weird Tales from 1933 to 1945. Her covers were signed “M. Brundage” and were very popular with readers, but most of the public wasn’t aware the artist was female. When puritanical social forces complained about the overt sexuality of the art, the editor finally revealed that the artist was a woman, hoping to mollify the perceived offensiveness of her work.
As a woman in a field dominated by men, Brundage brought a unique aesthetic to pulp art. Most of her work was created with pastels on illustration board and often featured fantasy scenes of women trapped in sexually vulnerable situations. Brundage continued to create fantasy scenes in pastels for the rest of her life but was unable to find a steady publisher of her work after the publisher of Weird Tales moved to New York City in 1938. After a divorce from a drunken husband and the death of her only son, Brundage’s later years were spent in relative poverty. Check out the “Field Guide to Wild American Pulp Artists” for more on Brundage (www.pulpartists.com/Brundage.html).