Creator Profile: Margaret Brundage

Margaret Brundage was an illustrator and painter, known for her Weird Tales covers. She preferred using pastels, making provocative paintings that appealed to Weird Tales readers. Her style often featured nearly naked women in peril – which gained attention for their controversy.

Brundage was the first female cover artist during the pulp era and remains one of the most influential female pop culture artists. Her pulp art, particularly the “Bat Woman” cover, set the bar high for other pulp cover artists.

She created most of the covers for Weird Tales from 1933 to 1938. Her pulp art career began with Oriental Stories, later known as The Magic Carpet, then she moved on to Weird Tales. Her first cover for the pulp magazine appeared on the September 1932 issue. From June ’33 to August ’36 she created covers for 39 straight issues. She created her last original cover for the January 1945 issue – with a total of 66 original covers.