Henry Darger was a strange and brilliant man. His work, which was perhaps quite fittingly discovered after his death, included a 15,143 page manuscript entitled"The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm". He was definitely a pioneer of "Outsider Art". I love that he created such beautiful collages and watercolour illustrations purely for the creation of his own world on paper, and most likely didn't even consider himself to be an artist. Some would argue that this makes him a true artist, yes?
There is so much that could be said about him, but I think that the trailer for "In the Realms of the Unreal", a documentary on the man and the work describes things best. Have you seen it? It is narrated by Dakota Fanning, haha, and the entire film itself can also be found on youtube.
I do wish that someone would properly publish copies of the story for distribution today, as I would love to read it all!
Calla, this man is so interesting!! I love his work. How do you find out about him?
ReplyDeleteI'm going to watch this!
I just watched the whole thing and I'm so blown away by this man!
ReplyDeleteI am so happy that you liked him and the movie!
ReplyDeleteI found out about him in a book about Outsider Art in high school, and then learned more when I did an illustration project on him last year!