Artist Spotlight: Henry Darger

One of my favorite folk artists is Henry Darger. I think he embodies the great mystery that is folk art and self-taught artists. A virtual unknown, overlooked for most of his life, Henry Darger has become known for his 15,145-page, single-spaced fantasy manuscript called The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion. With the manuscript are several hundred accompanying pictures, done in watercolors and created over six decades, most of which were discovered posthumously. 

Born in 1882, Darger had a less than ideal childhood. His mother died when he was four and his father when he was 13, after which he was institutionalized in the Illinois Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children in Lincoln, Illinois. He eventually ran away from the institution, walking over 100 miles back to Chicago where his godmother helped him find a job. By this time, he was 16. The job he got was a custodian in a Chicago hospital. He would keep this job until his retirement in 1963. 

In Elizabeth Hand's Darger/Darger/Tolkien, she points out many parallels between Henry Darger and J.R.R. Tolkien; a connection I had never made before. More people are familiar with the depth that Tolkien infused within his creative universe, there were maps and an entire language developed. Tolkien and Darger were born just a few months apart and died less than a year apart. They were both orphans and both wrote incredibly massive single-subject fictional epics with Darger's work being the longest work of prose fiction ever created. 

The story of the Vivian girls chronicles the adventures of the daughters of Robert Vivian, seven princesses of the Christian nation of Abbieannia who assist a daring rebellion against the evil regime of child slavery imposed by John Manley and the Glandelinians. The children defend themselves and are often killed in battle or maliciously tortured by the Glandelinian overlords. 

Nearly all of his drawings are conglomerations of tracings and you'll often see the same poses over and over again in his meticulously created artworks. Many of them are double-sided and panoramic, like the one above. (Other side below)

If you're interested in learning more about Henry Darger, there is a permanent collection of his work at Intuit in Chicago or you can watch the movie (which I highly recommend, link below).

Sources: 

Intuit: http://www.art.org/collection/henry-darger/

http://www.folkartmuseum.org/darger

The movie: In the Realms of the Unreal