Armoured Car by Lynd Ward, Amer., (1905-1985)

 Lithograph, 1942, Ed. unknown, 6-15/16 x 12-1/16, image & sheet fine with palest toning and faintest foxing within margins bordering image, original gummed paper hinges to top corners, verso with light toning and scattered faint foxing, signed, titled and dated in pencil, on a sheet of warm white wove RIVES watermarkedd paper , 11-1/2 x 15-3/4. This lithograph has not turned up anywhere in my online searches, nor has anyone that I am aware of catalogued Ward's extensive body of work in lithography. Ward produced many book illustrations in b & w and color lithography, and these do not seem to have been editioned beyond their inclusion in the books they were intended to illustrate. Armoured Car, in black & white, produced during World War II in 1942, is a powerful and nuanced composition, with great drama and evident danger affirmed by bombed out buildings and foreboding dark skies. Two figures at the car's open door appear to be either pulling the slumped occupant from it, or providing him rescue and safe transport; his limp, dangling arm suggestive of injury or worse. Lynd Ward never flinched from portraying the dark side of humanity; such conflict, both internal and external  was one of his grand themes.