Lynd Ward: Difference between revisions

In addition to woodcuts, Ward also worked in [[watercolor]], oil, brush and ink, [[lithography]] and [[mezzotint]]. He illustrated over a hundred children's books, several of which were collaborations with his wife, May. During the 1930s, Ward became well known for the political themes of his graphic work, which often addressed class and labor issues. In 1932 he founded Equinox Cooperative Press as a response to the mechanized routines of the modern publishing business. Each of the sixteen books eventually published by the press was custom designed and printed. Every facet of the book, such as the paper, type fonts and vignettes, grew out of the collaborative decisions of a small group of writers, artists and editors, and represented an affirmation of handwork. While running Equinox, Ward also took on leadership roles in the [[Artists Union]], the [[American Artists Congress]] and the Federal Arts Project of the [[Works Project Administration]] (WPA). In 1939, Ward became Supervisor of the Graphic Arts Division of the New York Chapter of the Federal Arts Project. He managed 300 artists who made 5,000 prints a year which were distributed for display to libraries, museums, post offices and schools.{{sfn|Scott|2022|pp=13-17}} During World War II, Ward worked for the Bendix Corporation in New Jersey assembling gyroscopes for aircraft.{{sfn|Dance|2015|p=48}} He was named a member of the [[National Academy of Design]] in 1947.<ref name="br-1949"/> He was also a member of the [[Society of Illustrators]], and a member and President of the Society of American Graphic Artists (SAGA), and the [[National Academy of Design]].

Ward moved to [[Leonia, New Jersey]], in 1943,<ref name="br-1949">{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-record/137407322/ | title=Leonia Artist Awarded Prize | newspaper=Bergen Evening Record | location=Hackensack, New Jersey | date=November 11, 1949 | page=7 | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> where he used a barn as a studio.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-independent/137408065/ | title=Artist Prints 'Novels Without Words' In Barn | agency=Associated Press | newspaper=The Evening Independent | location=Massillon, Ohio | date=October 7, 1947 | page=18 | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> He and his wife lived in Leonia for the next fifteen years.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-record/137407986/ | title=Couple Honored For Biographies | newspaper=Bergen Evening Record | location=Hackensack, New Jersey | date=February 8, 1958 | page=4 | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Beginning in 1958, Ward lived with his wife in a home in [[Cresskill, New Jersey]], to which they added a studio for their work.<ref>Halasz, Piri. [https://www.nytimes.com/1974/10/27/archives/ward-engravings-on-view-wide-range-of-subjects.html "Ward Engravings on View"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', October 27, 1974. Accessed September 12, 2017. "Since then, Mr. Ward has illustrated more than 100 books for adults and children; they range from editions of Goethe's ''Faust'' and Mary Shelley's ''Frankenstein'' to a number of children's books written by his wife, May McNeer Ward.... For the last 16 years, Mr. and Mrs. Ward have lived on Lambs Lane, in Cresskill, in a small house to which they have added a much larger studio."</ref>

He won a number of awards, including athe Joseph Pennel Award at the Library of Congress Awardin 1948 for wood engraving,<ref name="br-1949"/> the [[Caldecott Medal]] for ''[[The Biggest Bear]]'' in 1953 (with a runner-up for ''America's Ethan Allen'' in 1950), and a [[Rutgers University]] award for Distinguished Contribution to Children's Literature. He also illustrated two [[Newbery Medal]] books and six runners-up. In 2011, Ward was listed as a Judges' Choice for [[The Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_11nom.php#nominees |title= The 2011 Eisner Awards: Nominees Announced - Nominations Span Full Range of Works|website=www.comic-con.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513193750/http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_11nom.php |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 13, 2011}}</ref>

* {{not a typo|''[[Gods' Man]]''}} (1929)<ref>[http://wordlessnovels.com/index/ward-lynd-1905-1985/1929-gods-man/ 1929 Gods’ Man] a bibliographic listing for Gods’ Man</ref>

* ''[[Vertigo (wordless novel)|Vertigo]]'' (1937)<ref>[http://wordlessnovels.com/index/ward-lynd-1905-1985/1937-vertigo/ 1937 Vertigo] a bibliographic listing for Vertigo</ref>

Ward left two additional fragments, the unpublished ''Hymn for the Night'' ({{circa|1940}}), and ''Lynd Ward's Last, Unfinished, Wordless Novel''<ref>[http://wordlessnovels.com/index/ward-lynd-1905-1985/2001-last-unfinished-wordless-novel/ 2001 Last Unfinished Wordless Novel] a bibliographic listing for Last Unfinished Wordless Novel</ref>, which was published posthumously in 2001.

In 1974, [[Harry N. Abrams]] published ''Storyteller Without Words'', a book that included Ward's six novels, selections of his illustrations from other books and a number of his independent prints. In this edition, Ward broke his silence and wrote brief introductions for each of his six novels. In 2010, the [[Library of America]] published ''Lynd Ward: Six Novels in Woodcuts'', with a new chronology of Ward's life and an introduction by [[Art Spiegelman]].<ref>{{Citationcite web needed| url=https://www.loa.org/books/337-lynd-ward-six-novels-in-woodcuts-boxed-set/ | title=Lynd Ward: Six Novels in Woodcuts (boxed set) | publisher=Library of America | access-date=MarchDecember 26, 20132023}}</ref>

*{{cite book |last=Dance, |first=Robert. (|date=2015). ''|title=Illustrated By Lynd Ward.'' |publisher=The Grolier Club. }}

*{{cite book |last=Scott, |first=Grant F. (|date=2022). ''|title=Lynd Ward's Wordless Novels, 1929-1937: Visual Narrative, Cultural Politics, Homoeroticism.'' |publisher=Routledge.}}

* {{Gutenberg author |id=Ward,+Lynd 33604| name=Lynd Ward}}

[[Category:PlacePeople offrom birthLeonia, missingNew Jersey]]