The Maid and the Unicorn

In 1924, the New York publisher Hearst had commissioned Dulac to produce an annual series of illustrations for the front cover of The American Weekly (the Sunday supplement of The New York Weekly American). Each year, Dulac would be required to produce between eight and twelve watercolours in response to theme of his choosing (subject to the editors approval). He began with the theme of Bible Scenes and Heroes – a subject he had chosen delicately to introduce his illustrations to a Sunday audience. Only a year into his contract, and toward the end of his second series of artworks, Dulac decided that he could not continue with any further series, as he felt his watercolours were not being reproduced well enough on the covers of the supplement.

Four years would pass before the artist would reconcile with the publication, and begin producing his illustrations once again, then by 1931 he was again producing annual series – which continued until 1938. The present lot was published on the cover page of The American Weekly, 25 April 1937, this was one of seven watercolours produced for the theme of Beauty and the Beast. The series enabled him to explore both dynamic and kinetic scenes, such as in The Centaurs and the Lapith Women (see C. White, Edmund Dulac, New York, 1976, pl. 62) and also the calmness and beauty of watercolours such as the present lot – contrasting his typically slender Maid alongside the less than beastly Unicorn.