Henry Darger - Hardcover

Klaus Biesenbach; Brooke Davis Anderson; Michael Bonesteel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 379134210X ISBN 13: 9783791342108

Publisher: Prestel, 2009

Synopsis

Self-taught and working in isolation until his death in 1973, Henry Darger realized an elaborate fantasy world of remarkable beauty and strangeness through hundreds of panoramic paintings and an epic written narrative. Dragon creatures, lightning storms, innocent girls, and murderous soldiers comprise Darger's painted mythology, which is reproduced here through two hundred illustrations in beautiful double-page and gatefold spreads. Klaus Biesenbach, Chief Curator of Media and Performance at MoMA and an important champion of Darger's work, offers a fresh perspective on Darger's art, illuminating its radical originality, including Darger's use of collage, his incorporation of religious themes and iconography, and his frequent juxtaposition of innocence with violence. Biesenbach also discusses Darger as a major influence on a range of prominent contemporary artists, including Paul Chan, Grayson Perry, and Damien Hirst. An essay by Brooke Davis Anderson, director and curator of The Contemporary Art Centre of the American Folk Art Museum, lends insight on Darger's source material and technique. Finally, Michael Bonesteel, an authority on Darger's writing, presents selections from the artist's autobiography along with biographical notes. The most comprehensive book on the artist to date, Henry Darger offers an authoritative, balanced, and insightful look at an American master.

About this title

Review:

'... a magnificently produced book' --Bevis Hillier, The Spectator, 5/12/09

'a glimpse into the world of the insane Henry Darger... guaranteed to give pleasure this Christmas' --Brian Sewell, London Evening Standard, 10/12/09

'...hundreds of works on paper, many of them... reproduced on a solid black background to stunning effect [...] A later plate section... offers a revealing insight into the artist's thinking' --Arts & Collections International, Winter 2009

'The landscape format of the book, replete with fold-out pages enables one to study his visionary friezes in depth'. --World of Interiors, May 2010

'...hundreds of works on paper, many of them... reproduced on a solid black background to stunning effect [...] A later plate section... offers a revealing insight into the artist's thinking' --Arts & Collections International, Winter 2009

' This new publication moves away from viewing Darger's work purely as outsider art and cleverly re-contextualises it within contemporary art discourse, and in doing so highlights just how radical Darger's vision was'. --HUH Magazine, May 2010

'...hundreds of works on paper, many of them... reproduced on a solid black background to stunning effect [...] A later plate section... offers a revealing insight into the artist's thinking' --Arts & Collections International, Winter 2009

About the Author:

Klaus Biesenbach is Chief Curator of the Department of Media and Performance Art at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

About this edition

• Publisher: Prestel
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 379134210X
• ISBN 13: 9783791342108
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304