EXTRACTS: Illustrators issue 25 © 2019 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

81 In an artistic genre mostly dominated by men, it was rare to find a woman who would become the most popular cover artist for the pulp classic magazine Weird Tales (where both H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard were published). Maybe it was the nude female figures or damsels in distress frequently appearing on her covers that made Margaret Brundage the star of the pulps during the Depression years. Born at the turn of the twentieth century in 1900 from Irish and Swedish ancestry, Margaret Hedda Johnson grew up in Chicago where she spent all her life. Her father died when she was eight years old, and she was raised by her widowed mother and grandmother (all named Margaret although it was from her grandmother that she inherited her name) in a strictly Christian Scientist home. Brundage’s mother remained a widower all her life and made a living by instructing young Christian Scientist disciples. After graduating from Girard Grammar School, Brundage attended ABOVE AND LEFT: A Rival From The Grave , pastel and mixed media on board, 13.5” by 20”. Cover for Weird Tales , January 1936 issue. Covers such as this would have readers reaching out for the magazine. BELOW: Weird Tales , June 1933 issue, illustrating a Conan story by R. E. Howard, long before Frazetta. Yes, Brundage was the first artist to illustrate Conan, although the artwork here doesn’t show the Hyborean barbarian.