Margaret Brundage, the Queen of Pulp Art, has become forever associated with the sensational, lurid, scandalous cover art of the pulp magazine heyday. In an industry almost exclusively dominated by men, Brundage (1900-1976) became one of the most well-known artists to populate pulp covers with her brand of beautiful women in positions of both captivity and power.
What Were the Pulps?
During the Great Depression, pulp magazines, called as such due to the cheap, pulpy paper with which they were produced, provided inexpensive entertainment. The more sensational the stories were, the more escapism they provided for readers eager for diversion. From tales of adventure and science fiction to romance, to horror, the pulps attracted a wide audience, drawn to the issues each month by the colorful and exciting cover art at newsstands.
The Unique Style of Margaret Brundage
Brundage, with her background in fashion illustration, brought an ethereal quality to her subjects, enhanced by her preferred medium of pastels, uncommon among pulp artists. Drawing heavily on fashion magazines for inspiration, Brundage depicted women in beautifully draped silk or satin, if they were dressed at all, and artful placement of flowing hair for what was very often limited modesty. Unsurprisingly, her pulp covers were extremely popular with readers, so much so that pulp authors often deliberately wrote stories that were aligned with Brundage’s style in the hope that their work would be on that issue’s cover.
Margaret Brundage was perhaps best known for her work for Weird Tales, a horror and fantasy story publication that was founded in 1922 and remains active today. Between 1933 and 1945, Brundage created cover art for 66 issues of Weird Tales until the publisher moved from Brundage’s native Chicago to New York, a distance that did not treat her fragile pastel artwork well. Brundage’s art remains popular today for its soft and otherworldly portrayal of women in often violent situations, at odds with the beautiful treatment of their forms.
A Gallery of Art by Margaret Brundage
Enjoy this sampling of pulp magazine cover art by Margaret Brundage, the Queen of Pulp Art. If you would like to see more pulp horror art, including more works by Brundage, check out our 2026 Vintage Pulp Horror Deluxe Calendar and our 2026 Vintage Pulp Horror Encore Edition Calendar, both featuring frame-friendly art prints of pulp magazine covers. To learn more about Margaret Brundage, read our biographical blog post, Margaret Brundage: Queen of Pulp Horror Illustration.
