The First American Wordless Novel
Can you guess the narrative in this sequence of woodcuts? Isn’t it amazing that you could follow a story only in a pictorial form?
For my pick this week, I would like to present the first American wordless novel, God’s Man, created by the American artist and illustrator Lynd Ward (1905-1985), and published in 1929 by Jonathon Cape and Harrison Smith in New York. The wordless novel is a narrative genre made of only captionless pictures, in particular, woodcut and other relief printing techniques. While graphic novels use captions and dialogue, wordless novels tell a story without text. It started in Germany, and Frans Masereel created the earliest example in 1918, which inspired Lynd Ward. This genre grew out of the German Expressionism, one of the most influential art movement in the twentieth century. Many German Expressionist artists were absorbed in printmaking, especially woodcuts. The wordless novel had influences on the development of the later graphic novel.
The publication, God’s Man, is made up of 139 woodblock-prints. The story is about an artist who acquires a magic brush, bringing money and power to the user. The artist begins to suffer from hallucinations when he realizes the world is corrupted by money. Because of the hallucinations, he has gone through several painful experiences. The images shown here are the part of the moment when the artist becomes popular after using the magic brush. Considering that a reader does not need to guess too much, it is well-balanced storytelling, offering pauses with perfect timing.
Lynd Ward, was born in Chicago and decided to become an artist when his first-grade teacher told him that “Ward” spelled backward was “draw” (isn’t that a cute story?). He is well-known for his series of wordless novels, but he also created artworks in watercolor, oil, brush and ink, and illustrated many books. The first printing of God’s Man was published in two versions, a deluxe edition and a trade edition. The signed, limited edition of 409 copies was printed from the original wood engravings. Our copy is the first trade edition printed from electrotype plates made from molds of the original boxwood woodblocks.
I was unfamiliar with the wordless novel until I researched German Expressionism for my thesis. When I was digging into the influence of the movement, I learned about this genre. It is a quite interesting art form: a publication of a novel, but also it a portfolio of sequence prints, and an artist’s book. I think the genre could be overlooked like, “oh, it is just a comic book without text!” Although they are on the same family tree, the wordless novel has a different pace, intensity, and narrative quality.
-Youngchul, Special Collections Graduate Intern
