8. “ Darger’s landscapes envoke the same moody, enigmatic, turbulence that his epic, narrative tale of innocence vs. evil achieves.” Carl F. Hammer
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Editor's Notes
Greetings and thank you for coming! Today I will be talking to you about a complex artist by the name of Henry Darger.
History: Henry Joseph Darger was born in 1892 in Cook County, IL His mother died when Henry was at early age and father was too crippled too crippled to care for him and sent him to a boys home. Nuns at his school said he was bright for his age. When he got out of school he bounced from job to job. After a brief stint in the Army during WWI he finally found a job working at a local Catholic hospital in Chicago, IL. He lived in the same apartment and worked the same job for the better part of his life. Henry was a secretive man and had one friend and few acutance's. Henry died in 1973 on April 13, one day after his birthday. He was 81 years old. These are the only known photos of Henry.
When his landlords went to clean out his apartment they found: 300 paintings, some 10ft long 5,084pg autobiography detailing his life and dreams called The History of My Life 10-year daily weather journal Assorted diaries 10,000pg unfinished story called Crazy Horse 15,145pg story called Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion This story chronicled the Vivian Girls and their struggle to break free of their orphanage prison. These works span six decades, paintings are done with water colors and colored pencils and the stories are hand written and typewriter.
Expressionism: The essence of art is expression of the inner emotions, feelings, moods, and mental states of the artist. Good art effectively and sincerely brings these inner states to an external objectification. (R.J. Collingwood) Outsider art (Dargerism): a label created by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture; Dubuffet focused particularly on art by insane asylum inmates.
Henry Darger Date Unknown 107X24” Water color, carbon tracing, pencil and collage on paper Private Owner: Nathan and Kiyoko Lerner
Henry Darger Circa 1920-1973 24x43 ½ in. Watercolor, carbon transfer on paper Private Collection: Nathan and Kiyoko Lerner
Henry Darger C. 1940 19X47” Carbon transfer and water color on paper Private Collection: Nathan and Kiyoko Lerner
Criticism
Henry has many admires of his work. There are several books about his art, writing, life and his mental state published today.
There is a documentary about his life and work called “In the Realms of the Unreal: The Mystery of Henry Darger
His art has been inspiration to musicians as well. From his style being used on the cover of the Animal Collective album Feel
There is a direct mention in the Sufjan Stevens song “The Vivian Girls Are Visited In the Night by Saint Dargarius and his Squadron of Benevolent Butterflies” on the album Avalanche .
Henry was a mysterious man, but a brilliant man. He usher in a new style of art and how we perceive the mind of artists. It’s just a shame we couldn’t speak to the man about his brilliance and understand what made him who he was. Thank you for you time. Open floor to questions
