Edmund Dulac | Ten designs for playing cards, 1930's

Edmund Dulac

Ten designs for playing cards, comprising:

i) King of Clubs

81 x 45mm design for card 89 x 57mm.; 302 x 221mm., watercolour, double-ended court card with King of Clubs facing left, with arrow in hand, without corner indices, mounted

ii) King of Hearts

82 x 43mm design for card 89 x 58mm.; 302 x 221mm., watercolour, double-ended court card with King of Hearts facing left, with sword in hand, without corner indices, mounted, slightly foxed

iii) Chilham Castle, Kent

88 x 59mm.; 302 x 221mm., watercolour heightened in gold, Chilham Castle Kent, with house in centre oval and two stags below, produced for Sir Edmund Davis, mounted

iv) Archers card back design

89 x 58mm.; 324 x 242mm., watercolour heightened in gold, double-ended design featuring two archers, a man on a horse with a sword, glazed and framed, frame slightly scraped

v) Elephants card back design

89 x 58mm.; 324 x 242mm., watercolour, heightened in gold, double-ended design featuring two white buildings and man on an elephant, glazed and framed, frame slightly scraped

vi-x) Four abstract card back designs

approx. 90 x 58mm., watercolour, two heightened in gold or silver, two mounted 303 x 222mm., two mounted in a clip frame 194 x 144m.

xi + xii) 2 original carpet designs

133 x 81mm., 194 x 144m., watercolour, mounted, in a clip frame

Dulac's relationship with the prominent playing card printers De La Rue began in 1933, when he wrote to them asking if they could produce a pack of playing cards using his illustration 'Helen of Troy' for American Weekly, as a present for Helen Beauclerk. Da La Rue asked Dulac to produce a design for a Dutch banknote, and led him to designing postage stamps - encouraged by Stanley Morison. De La Rue commissioned several designs from Dulac, and included here are several beautiful original backs featuring elephant hunts and Tartar warriors. Dulac also produced a special pack for Edmund Davis, featuring his house Chilham Castle.

It is possible that the carpet designs were produced when Dulac received a commission for produce a design for a display entitled 'my ideal room' for the 1929 Daily Mail Ideal Home exhibition. Dulac designed a study, created for an 'intellectual worker', which featured modern fittings in plywood, with colour provided by cushions and curtains.

PROVENANCE:

From the collection of the late Colin White

EXHIBITION:

iv + v) Sheffield City Art Galleries, November 1982-May 1983, item no. 104A + B

LITERATURE:

Colin White, Edmund Dulac, 1976, p. 141, 153, 156; Edmund Dulac: illustrator and designer, 1882-1953 : a centenary exhibition, Sheffield: Sheffield City Art Galleries, 1982