"The delicacy and intelligence of George Walker's printmaking seems to have come to us from a bygone age. Fortunately, we have George with us now." -- Neil Gaiman

A cold case from 1917, the tragic cost of the events of 9/11, and the rise and fall of a media baron. These are the themes as imagined by George Walker in his three wordless contemporary narratives -- The Mysterious Death of Tom Thomson, The Book of Hours and Conrad Black -- told in wood engravings.

The Mysterious Death of Tom Thomson Thomson was a young Canadian artist of great promise. When his body was discovered in a lake in Algonquin Park in July 1917, Thomson had been missing for eight days. Although the official cause of death was accidental drowning, the corpse had fishing line wrapped around a leg and the head showed evidence of trauma. The Mysterious Death of Tom Thomson re-imagines in some 100 wood engravings the events leading up to Thomson's tragic death and the discovery of his body.

Book of Hours Book of Hours: A Wordless Novel Told in 99 Wood Engravings is a sequence of visual narratives chronicling the 24-hour period leading up to the attacks on the World Trade Center. The book charts the imagined lives of people who worked in the twin towers. Walker imbues his book with the specter of horror that the reader knows will shatter the lives of those involved and forever alter the course of world events.

Conrad Black Walker's Conrad Black imagines the life of this notorious, intellectually complex and fascinating business figure. Black's life is relayed in a sequence of events and episodes in no discernible pattern. Initial impulses set in motion in the early years tumble forward through the decades, culminating in downfall and catharsis.

George A. Walker is an award-winning wood engraver, book artist and author whose courses in book arts and printmaking at OCAD University in Toronto, where he is Associate Professor, have been offered continuously since 1985. His artworks are held in collections ranging from the Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, and The Museum of Modern Art (MoMa), New York City and he has had over 15 solo exhibitions as well as been included in more than 100 group shows. Among many book projects-both trade and limited edition-Walker has illustrated 2 hand-printed books by internationally acclaimed author Neil Gaiman. Walker also illustrated the first Canadian edition of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass, both published by the Cheshire Cat Press. The Cheshire Cat Press is a partnership between Andy Malcolm and George Walker which continues to publish limited edition books featuring the writing of Lewis Carroll.

George Walker was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Art in 2002 for his contribution to the cultural area of Book Arts. He is also a member of the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto where he was featured in a solo exhibition of his books and printmaking in the spring of 2019. Walker's latest book-length project presents the iconic life of Hollywood silent-film star Mary Pickford in a suite of 87 wood engravings.

George A. Walker's profile page

Tom Smart is the Executive Director and CEO of the McMichael Canadian Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario, and the President of the McMichael Canadian Art Foundation. For seven years he was Director of Collections and Exhibitions at the Frick Art & Historical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he developed an ambitious international exhibition program, and at the same time, he was appointed a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. He served as Acting Director of the Winnipeg Art Gallery from 1997 until 1999 and was Curator of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton from 1989 to 1997. Smart is the author of nine books and catalogues. His most recent book is the critically acclaimed Alex Colville: Return, which moved criticism of Colville's works to a new intellectual level. His 1995 book The Art of Mary Pratt: The Substance of Light won the Atlantic Provinces Booksellers Association Booksellers Choice Award, the Studio Magazine Award of Merit, and the Printing Industries of America Award of Merit. It was included in Great Canadian Books of the Century.

Tom Smart's profile page

This is an amazing undertaking, and we stock it as an example of what graphic novels can do, how visual art can itself form a story, and how woodcut art is so very, very powerful. Each of these is moving, and I think if you know anyone who enjoys graphic novels, these wordless ones will really captivate them... The artwork shows how versatile the medium is, and how talented Mr. Walker truly is.

Hearts and Minds Books