Ward was a prolific printmaker best known for his wordless novels that tell stories through a series of woodcuts. Born in Chicago, Ward moved with his family to Englewood, New Jersey, in 1918. He learned linoleum block printing in high school and graduated from Columbia Teachers College with a concentration in fine arts. He studied graphic arts in Leipzig, Germany, at the National Academy of Graphic Arts and Bookmaking. In 1927 he returned to the United States and launched a successful career as an illustrator and book artist, publishing God's Man, his first wordless novel in 1929. Working in watercolor, brush and ink, oil, wood engraving, lithography, and mezzotint, Ward illustrated more than 100 children's books, many in collaboration with his wife May McNeer.
