A dynamic, fascinating archive of materials related to the artist and designer John Hood Hord, an apparent veteran of the Vietnam War who produced hundreds of sketches, figure drawings, stylized portraits, and comic art related to the soldiers’ experiences. Guns, violence, and the fragility of the human body are regular features of his striking work, evident across hundreds of individual pieces in styles reminiscent of American Realists, R. Crumb, Harvey Pekar, contemporary comic art, and more. Throughout, his caring and meticulous eye is evident, rendering technical drawings with the same care and attention that he directs towards the male body in numerous nude studies.

The works related to the war include figure drawings of soldiers, detailed pen and ink sketches of infantrymen with weaponry, technical drawings of guns, depictions of soldiers in the fray of battle, humorous cartoons of angry commanding officers, and more. A frenzied ink wash illustration of a soldier conveys the anxiety and violence of combat; while the background is abstract to the point of non-representation, the line work imparts a sense of movement, suggesting the infantryman is on the charge or under assault.

While none of the present work is signed by the artist, many pieces related to Vietnam are dated from between the fall of 1961 and the fall of 1962, suggesting a possible date range for his tour of duty. Unfortunately, little information remains about Hord and his life, and we have been unable to confirm the details of his service.

Much of the work not explicitly related to the war carries on the same thematic suggestions of anger and distress, of violence, suggesting that his experiences in Vietnam stayed with him long after he left. An undated 18 x 12 study of a man’s face rendered in greens and yellows captures a haunted expression, the colors serving to highlight his unease.

In addition to his artwork, there are several envelopes of designs submitted to gun manufacturers such as Smith & Wesson proposing improvements to handgun design. There is no record of John Hood Hord ever having filed a patent with the United States Patent Office.