Lynd Kendall Ward (1905-1985) American, Signed and Dated Wood Engraving Print. Shows a group of children at play beneath enormous trees in the artists signature style. Titled "Clouded Over" bottom left in pencil. Signed and dated 1948 bottom right in pencil. 

Overall Size: 16 x 13 1/4 in. 

Sight Size: 9 1/2 x 7 in. 

#8522  

Lynd Kendall Ward was born on June 26th, 1905 in Chicago, Illinois. Soon after birth he developed tuberculosis, and he continued to suffer from symptoms of the disease throughout his childhood, as well as from inner ear and mastoid infections. Ward became interested in art in first-grade when his teacher told him that “Ward” spelled backward is “draw.” The family moved to Englewood, New Jersey in 1918, and Ward became art editor of his high school newspaper and yearbook, learning about linoleum-block printing. Ward studied fine arts at Columbia Teachers College in New York. He edited the Jester of Columbia, to which he contributed arts and crafts how-to articles. He married May Yonge McNeer (1902-1994) in 1926, shortly after their graduation, and immediately left for Europe on their honeymoon. After four months in eastern Europe the couple settled in Leipzig, Germany for a year, where Ward studied as a special one-year student at the National Academy of Graphic Arts and Bookmaking. He learned etching from Alois Kolb, lithography from Georg Alexander Mathéy, and wood engraving from Hans Alexander “Theodore” Mueller, who particularly influenced his budding style. When Ward chanced across two wordless novels told through wood- and lead-cuts his style shifted dramatically due to their influence, and when the couple returned to the United States his portfolio immediately intrigued several editors in New York City. He and his wife began illustrating children’s books regularly, and in 1929 he was inspired to create a woodcut novel of his own. Throughout the 1930s he weathered the Depression on the success of it and five subsequent novels in the same style. In 1932 he founded Equinox Cooperative Press, and his work and philosophy became more political, especially focused on class and labor issues. In addition to woodcuts, Ward also worked in watercolor, oil, brush and ink, lithography, and mezzotint. He ultimately illustrated over a hundred children’s books with his wife, and 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), becoming Supervisor of the Graphic Arts Division of the New York Chapter in 1939. He managed 300 artists who made 5,000 prints a year which were distributed for display to libraries, museums, post offices and schools. Ward moved to Leonia, New Jersey, in 1943, and during World War II he worked for the Bendix Corporation in New Jersey assembling gyroscopes for aircraft. He was named a member of the National Academy of Design in 1947, and also became a member of the Society of Illustrators and the President of the Society of American Graphic Artists (SAGA). In 1958 he and his wife created a new home studio in Cresskill, New Jersey. Due to early onset Alzheimer’s, he retired in 1979 and moved to a house in Reston, Virginia, where he died on June 28th, 1985. His work can be seen in museums and libraries around the country, and throughout his life he won numerous accolades, including the Joseph Pennel Award at the Library of Congress in 1948, the Caldecott Medal in 1953, and a Rutgers University award for Distinguished Contribution to Children’s Literature. Ward’s blend of Art Deco and Expressionist style, as well as his direct addressing of racial injustice and social disparity, continued to exert influence well beyond the Depression era, becoming an important source of inspiration for the Beat Generation.