Gods Man: A Novel in Woodcuts by
Lynd Ward
It's All About The Apostrophe
The major American artist invented the concept of a wordless novel with
this evocative, text-free woodcut narrative. Autobiographical in nature, the
novel recounts Wards struggles with his craft and with life in the 1920s.
The intricate woodcuts transcend all barriers of language, and fresh details
reward the eye with every review. 139 black-and-white illustrations.
Personal Review: Gods Man: A Novel in Woodcuts by Lynd
Ward
It is wonderful to have this book back in print after so many decades. This
is a real achievement in visual storytelling, and helped blaze the trail for
the modern graphic novel.
The format is starkly simple: one woodcut image per page, black on white.
Woodcut isn't a tonal process - grades of light and dark come from

alternations of white and black, for which Ward favors fields of parallel
lines. His vision tends towards angular, harsh geometries; still, he uses
this style in some surprisingly warm ways. "God's Man" is a product of the
1920s Art Deco era, so the combination of hard edges and soft sentiment
works well.
Since it's a novel without words, much of the imagery is open to
interpretation. Even so, Ward delivers his story clearly enough to leave me
wondering: is this his own story, about a young artist fumbling and then
finding his way in the world? How literal is that amulet of artistic power in
Ward's personal mythology? This woodcut artist wields his knives fluently
and with grace, so there may a thinly disguised autobiographical note,
about the feeling that his own power comes into him from his chosen tools.
Don't believe it, though. This artist has full control of his medium. It's an
early work from a long, successful career, so I can't even say that he was
yet at the height of his craft. "God's Man" is the first I've seen of Ward's
work, but it's given me the taste for more.
//wiredweird
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