At a loss for words -- God's Man, Lynd Ward and more...

January 22, 2022 6:37 PM

Silent Pictures

Version 1 -- Paris Review: Art Spiegelman on Lynd Ward

Version 2 -- Vulture: Art Spiegelman on Forgotten Comics Pioneer Lynd Ward

From Jan-Peter Semmel's Pinterest: Art by Lynd Ward

and....

From Shrine of Dreams: Silent Dreams

Lynd Ward's roots:

Symposium: Frans Masereel

Fran Masereel's The City (1925): A Timeless Novel In Woodcuts

Caught by the River: The Gift of All Travel Frank Masreel's Passionate Journey

Two from the Anarchist Library:

Frans Masreel's The Idea

Frans Masreel's The City

Obligatory SLYT: God's Man by Lynd Ward by Pipe Choir

And from 217 Films: Excerpt from the film 'O Brother Man, the Art and Life of Lynd Ward'

See also A Feeling for Wood Itself: Lynd Ward's Arboreal Modernism

Wordlessness in the 21st Century: Silent Story: Eric Drooker

And here is Speechless by Mefi's own peacay from his BibliOdyssey...

And then, too, there is the encyclopedic John Coulthart's Feuilleton Illustrators Archive

posted by y2karl (7 comments total)

Omigosh thank you. I had no idea. This is a real Saturday night treat.
posted by TheAliceMunroSingers at 6:46 PM on January 22, 2022

Fantastic post & links. Thank you for this.

My college library's rare books collection had a Lynd Ward book so I was lucky enough to see some of his work comparatively early - within a year or two of reading Maus for the first time, lucky coincidence. I love the intricacy in woodblock prints. When I look at them I have trouble imagining how a human hand can make such tiny precise movements as to carve those lines out of wood.
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 7:51 PM on January 22, 2022

I wonder if Ward was inspired by William Blake's art as well. It has a similar raw, totemic iconology, though more monochrome.

I also wonder if Frank Miller is familiar with Lynd Ward. It would definitely explain a lot of the art choices.
posted by LeRoienJaune at 8:30 PM on January 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

When I look at them I have trouble imagining how a human hand can make such tiny precise movements as to carve those lines out of wood.

Practice, practice, and more practice. From 04:45 to 05:30 in the Vimeo trailer (cited above by y2karl) for 217 Films “O Brother Man: The Art and Life of Lynd Ward”, you can see Ward working on blocks for his 1937 'wordless novel' Vertigo (WP). He wields a razor-sharp chisel with the skill and confidence of an Olympic fencer.

There's an online exhibit and discussion of scans taken from Ward's original Vertigo woodblocks at Rutgers University Libraries > Digital Exhibits > Vertigo, by Lynd Ward: An Exhibition.
posted by cenoxo at 10:54 PM on January 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

my introduction to him was his illustrations of Marguerite Henry's Gaudenzia, Pride of the Palio
posted by brujita at 11:04 PM on January 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

Thanks for posting this y2karl, this is fantastic!
posted by Dr. Send at 5:23 PM on January 23, 2022

*Gawrsh!* Thanks!
posted by y2karl at 5:42 PM on January 23, 2022