Author(s): BERONE David

General Art

This is an important collection of black and white woodcut art that documents the influential precursors to the modern graphics of today."Wordless books" were stories from the early part of the twentieth century told in black and white woodcuts, imaginatively written without any text. They are the precursor to today's graphic novels. Scholar David A. Berona examines the history of these books and the art and influence of pioneers like Masereel, Lynd Ward, Otto Nuckel, William Gropper, Milt Gross and Laurence Hyde among others. The images are powerful and iconic and as relevant to the world of today as they were when they were created. Berona places these works in the context of their time and in the context of ours, creating a scholarly work of importance and significance in the burgeoning field of comics and comics history.