 Lynd Ward ( 1905 – 1985 ) was a son of Methodist minister and social activist Harry F. Ward ( 1873 – 1966 ) . Throughout his career the younger Ward displayed in his work the influence of his father 's interest in social injustice . Ward married writer May McNeer in 1926 and the couple left for Europe , where Ward spent a year studying wood engraving in Leipzig , Germany . There he encountered German Expressionist art and read the wordless novel The Sun ( 1919 ) by Flemish woodcut artist Frans Masereel ( 1889 – 1972 ) . 
