Wild Pilgrimage

Ward simplified his approach after the more complex, novelistic story of his previous book, Madman's Drum (1930), returning to the simplicity of his first, Gods' Man (1929).

Wild Pilgrimage achieves more fluid pacing and varied imagery than the first two books, incorporating the influence of art movements such as American Regionalism and Futurism.

[7] Ward spent a year studying wood engraving in Leipzig, Germany, where he encountered German Expressionist art and read the wordless novel The Sun[a] (1919) by Flemish woodcut artist Frans Masereel (1889–1972).

[6] The work inspired Ward to create a wordless novel of his own, Gods' Man (1929),[8] which he followed the next year with Madman's Drum, a story with a much more complicated plot and developed characters than the first.

[12] In 1937 Irvin Haas called Wild Pilgrimage the book in which "Ward became a master of his medium", praising in particular the quality of the clarity and richness of the artwork.

[10] Cartoonist Art Spiegelman comments that Ward had mastered a fluid rhythm of pacing with his third book, achieving a flow that minimized the need for the reader to spend time deciphering images before moving to the next page, while encouraging multiple readings and interpretations.

[14] Ward's images offer a diversity of textures, moods, detail, and composition, and mix in influence from movements such as American Regionalism and Futurism.

Two monochrome images. The left, in black, depicts a man from behind sawing wood, and the right, in orange, a man in the woods emerging from the water, directing himself toward a nude female who lies on the ground in the distance.
Wild Pilgrimage alternates between the protagonist's reality (in black) and fantasy (in orange).
Black-and-white illustration of a man seated and hunched over a table, facing left, hold his art tools. Out the window on the left, the sun beats down upon the man.
Ward read Frans Masereel 's wordless novel The Sun (1919, pictured ) while studying in Germany.
A painting of a group of figures.
American Regionalism and other movements influenced Ward's artwork.
People of Chilmark , Thomas Hart Benton , 1920