Lynd Ward

American artist, printmaker and storyteller Lynd Ward is best known for creating the first wordless novel in the U.S., God’s Man, a work of fiction using wood engravings to depict the action, characters and plot.  This silent story from 1929, and the five others that followed in the series, greatly influenced the development of today’s immensely popular graphic novel genre.  Ward has even been posthumously recognized with the annual Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize awarded every year since 2011 by the Pennsylvania State University Libraries.

Ward studied fine arts at the Columbia Teachers College and, after honeymooning in Europe, continued his studies at the National Academy of Graphic Arts & Bookmaking in Leipzig, Germany becoming especially excited by the wood engraving classes.  Known for his beautiful woodcuts, Ward received his first commission in the U.S. in 1928 and went on to illustrate over 100 children’s books, including the Caldecott Award-winning book The Biggest Bear in 1953.  A member of many prestigious national organizations of illustrators and designers, Ward also worked with watercolors, oil and ink.  The documentary, O Brother Man: The Art and Life of Lynd Ward premiered in 2012 at Pennsylvania State University, where a vast collection of his archives is held for research and preservation.