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Charles Marvin Fairchild (SFS '48) Memorial
Gallery
July 5 · October 2, 2005
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Click here for the other illustrations
in Lynd Ward: A Centennial Appreciation.
Lynd Ward's
Wood-Engraved Novels
Lynd Ward was a
prolific artist,
author, and book
illustrator whose
experiments during
the fifty years of
his career distinguish
him as an accomplished
craftsman of the
twentieth century.
Working primarily
in wood, Ward produced
powerful and dynamic
illustrations that
set new standards
for communication
through imagery.
With the conviction
that images can communicate
more effectively
than words, Lynd
Ward chose a medium
which could convey
expressively the
moral and social
issues of his time.
His purposeful absence
of text and use of
the wood-engraved
medium as a narrative
enabled a particular
type of communication,
leaving much to the
autonomous interpretation
of the reader.
Though Ward worked
in
various
media
throughout
his
long
career
as
an
illustrator,
his
work
in
wood is
among
his
most
imaginative
and
remarkable.
In
the
six
wood-engraved
novels
the
artist
created
in
the
late 1920s
and
1930s,
he
explored
the
human
condition
in
its
ranges
of
glories
and
disappointments.
His
graphic
representations
of
the
many
social
concerns
of
his
era
demonstrated
his
keen
ability
to
convey
the
emotional
and
conflicting overtones
of
the
mid-twentieth
century.
In
his
pioneering
novels,
Ward
foresook
words
and
color
-
two
commonly
employed
techniques
of
storytelling
- communicating
solely
through
dynamic
black-and-white
images
to
dramatize
universal
human
emotions.
The
three
wordless
novels displayed
in
this
exhibit
-
Gods' Man (1929),
Madman's
Drum (1930),
and
Song
Without
Words (1936)
-
are prime examples
of
his
accomplishments
in
graphic
design
and
the
art
of
the
book.
Lynd Ward was born
in Chicago in 1905,
in a century destined
for modernization,
cultural revolution,
and war. In his early
life, he faced environmental,
educational, and
social forces that
would shape him as
an individual and
an artist. Knowing
from an early age
that he wanted to
become an artist,
he obtained an advanced
degree in fine arts
at the Teacher's
College of Columbia
University in New
York. After graduating,
he traveled to Leipzig,
Germany with his
young bride, May
McNeer, where they
settled for a year.
There, Ward studied
at the National Academy
for the Graphic Arts,
where he acquired
technical knowledge
of printmaking and
bookmaking. An important
discovery in Germany
which had a great
impact on his career
was the work of Belgian
engraver Franz Masereel,
who crafted stories
through woodcut illustrations.
Shortly after his
return to the United
States in 1927, Lynd
Ward began his first
professional venture
into wood engraving.
Ward's wood-engraved
novels defied the
conventional categories
of his time and constitute
probably the earliest
manifestation of
what has come to
be known as the graphic
novel. In his outstanding
wood-engraved narratives,
Ward juxtaposed the
beauty and violence
of life, contrasts
of which his audience
most certainly was
aware. Today, we
also can appreciate
these timeless themes
that evoke the struggle
of the human experience.
His creative achievements
are honored in this
exhibition which
coincides with the
centennial of the
artist's birth.
Gods' Man
Gods' Man, published
in
1929
within
one
week
of the New York
stock
market
crash,
was Lynd
Ward's
first
of
six
wood-engraved
novels.
Influenced
by many
European
artists
such
as
Daumier,
Goya,
Masereel,
and Nuckel, Ward
was
attracted
to
the
pictorial
narrative
as
an
art
form
in
which
subject matter was
predominant.
In Gods' Man, the
narrative
depicts
the
travails
of
the young
protagonist,
a struggling
artist.
Despite
the
close
resemblance
with
the
character in
the
novel,
Ward
insisted that Gods' Man was
not
autobiographical,
and
that
many
readers
-
not
just artists - could
identify
with
the
character.
As
with
all of
his
novels,
the
author
represented universal
themes
such
as
the
often
self
defeating
combinations
of
human
qualities.
Gods' Man tells
the
story
of a young artist
confronted
with
the
struggles
of
urban
life.
Based on Goethe's
Faust legend,
the
story
follows the young
man
as
he sells his
soul
to
the devil in exchange
for
artistic talent.
With
brush
in
hand,
the
protagonist tackles
the
commercial,
modern city
in
hopes of
finding
fame
and fortune. His
new
talent
brings
him
recognition and money,
but
he
still
does not find
happiness
in
the
big
city. After facing
disappointments
in
fame,
love,
religion, and the
law,
he escapes
the
city
to
find true love
and
nature - but despite
his
apparent
escape and
its
happy outcome, the
devil
returns
to
claim
the young
artist's
soul
that
had
been promised.
Set in a recognizable,
contemporary
world,
Gods' Man makes
an
immediate
connection
with its
viewers
using symbolic characters
to
represent
archetypes
- the
young
and
naïve
artist,
the
greedy
capitalist, the
deceiving
temptress, and
corrupt
authorities. These
characters
apparently
represent
the
evils
of
a
consumer
society that
can
lead
to the demise of
young
talent in
the
commercial milieu.
Gods' Man:
A Novel in Woodcuts
by Lynd Ward
( © 1929 by Lynd Ward. First edition. New York: Jonathan Cape and Harrison
Smith, Inc., 1930). Copy 99 of the edition of 409 copies printed from the original
blocks and signed by the artist.
Georgetown University Library, Special Collections Division.
Madman's
Drum
Ward's second
woordless novel chronicles
the life of a man
tormented by various
misfortunes and death.
Ward hoped that Madman's
Drum would be an
extension of many
of the themes suggested
in Gods' Man. In this novel, Ward
develops further
dimensions of each
of the characters.
He explores human
relationships such
as those between
child and parent,
and man and wife.
The story follows
the protagonist from
childhood through
old age, and the
misfortunes he and
his family face.
We see the triumph
of sin, evil, and
death over everyone
in his life and,
ultimately, himself.
Madman's
Drum unfolds
in
an
unspecified
European
setting
in the
distant
past.
The reader follows
the
life
of
an
unfortunate
character
who
faces
only
disappointment
in
his
life.
The
story begins with
his
father's
discovery
of
a
drum
-
which forms a
visual
motif
for
the
novel's
themes
-
once
belonging
to
a slave from Africa.
Seeking
order
and
meaning
in
his
studies,
he
is
distraught
by the constant
chaos
and
death
that
surrounds him.
Throughout
his
life
he
is
confronted
with
the
injustices that befall
his
loved
ones.
He
hopes
to
be
able
to save them
by
finding
answers
in
his
books,
but his efforts
are
to
no
avail.
Corruption and
accidents
claim
the
honor
and
lives
of
his
entire family. Realizing
there
are
no
rational
answers
to
the
chaos
of his life,
he
goes
mad
and
ultimately
faces
the
triumph
of
death.
Madman's
Drum:
A
Novel
in
Woodcuts by Lynd Ward
( © 1930 by Lynd Ward. First edition.
New York: Jonathan Cape and Harrison
Smith, Inc., 1930). Unnumbered copy,
of an edition of 309 copies printed
from the original blocks and signed
by the artist.
Georgetown University Library, Special Collections
Division.
Song
Without Words
Lynd
Ward
created Song
Without
Words as
the
troubles
of the
world
were worsening. The
day-to-day
struggle
of
Americans
battling
the
Depression
coïncided
with
the
growing threat of
Fascism
across
the
Atlantic, as
democratic
freedoms
were
at
risk at the
hands
of dictators
like
Mussolini
and Hitler. Having
spent
time
in Germany
as
a
student, Ward had
close
encounters
with
and
observations
of
the
turbulent politics
brewing
in
Europe.
The economic and
political
uncertainties
of
the coming years
were
of
particular
concern
to
the younger generation
on
the
brink of starting
their
own
families:
What
kind
of
world awaited
their
children?
In this narrative,
Ward follows a young
woman through her
journey of pregnancy
and childbirth. Ward
looked at this sequence
of wood engravings
as a kind of prose
poem, capturing the
turmoil surrounding
an expectant mother
in the 1930s. The
threats that faced
a child and new parents
during this turbulent
time in this era
were enormous: war,
greed, dictatorship,
and oppression. As
well as highlighting
modem social evils,
Ward also celebrated
the woman's
role as the giver
of life. In this
position of critical
importance, the woman
must resist those
social forces that
jeopardize life.
In the end, the sanctity
of the family appears
to remain intact
from these external
perils.
Song Without Words: A Book of Engravings
on Wood by Lynd Ward
( © 1936 by Lynd Ward. First edition.
New York: Random House, Inc.; printed
by the L. F. White Co., and bound by
H. Wolff, 1936). Copy 1083 of the edition
of 1250 copies printed from the original
blocks and signed by the artist.
Lent by Penelope
C. and George M. Barringer.
These nine impressions
from Song Without
Words were printed
ca.
1980
by Alex Weedon Haynes,
Ward's
grandson,
from the original
wood-engraved
blocks.
Two are inscribed
by
May McNeer and signed
by Lynd Ward.
This recent article from the academic
journal Print Quarterly describes
the European influences, chiefly of
Frans
Masereel, on Lynd Ward's woodcut
novels, and Ward's stature as
an innovator. Among the observations:
[T]he wordless
novels played an
important role
in the development
of narrative theory,
and are the cornerstone
for today's genre of wordless comics and children's
wordless picture books....Gods' Man...sold
20,000 copies and went through six printings
in four years. This publishing history is even more
extraordinary
considering that Gods' Man was published
at the beginning of the Depression....The novel had an impact
not only on the general public, but also on many artists
at the time....With the publication of Gods' Man, Ward's
reputation as a skilful engraver and the innovator
of the woodcut novel in the United States was
firmly established.
David A. Berona, "Wordless Novels in Woodcuts," in
Print Quarterly (March 2003) Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 61-73.
Intern Jennifer A. Zitner '05 contributed to much
of the research, writing, and organization of this
exhibition.
All text and images © Georgetown University. All rights reserved.
For reproduction information contact artcollection@georgetown.edu
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