Henry Darger - Hardcover

Darger; Bonesteel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0847822842 ISBN 13: 9780847822843

Publisher: Rizzoli International Publications, 2001

Synopsis

In the quarter century since the death of Henry Darger--and the discovery of the astonishing cache of artworks and writings he left behind--this reclusive Chicago janitor has become recognized as one of the most important outsider artists of the twentieth century in America. This book provides the first comprehensive survey of Darger's art and writings. Included are reproductions of approximately 114 of Darger's collage drawings and fifteen selections from his writings, focusing on his life's work. "In the Realms of the Unreal," which is an account of a cosmic struggle against child slavery unfolding on a planet vastly larger than our own. This battle between the forces of good--led by the intrepid Vivian sisters--and the evil Glandelinian nations, was illustrated and extended in Darger's art, including the mural-size watercolor drawings that represent his mature achievement as an artist. Michael Bonesteel, a Chicago-based art critic and authority on outsider art, provides an introduction to Darger's work and narrates the Dickensian circumstances of his childhood which, along with his profound religious faith and doubt, shaped his extraordinary sensibility. A true American original, Henry Darger combined an unquestionable innocence with a dark and sometimes deeply disturbing vision to create a body of work of originality and lasting impact.

About this title

Review:

"Do you believe it, unlike most children, I hated to see the day come when I will be grown up. I never wanted to. I wished to be young always. I am a grownup now and an old lame man, darn it."--Henry Joseph Darger

About the Author:

Henry Joseph Darger was born in Chicago on April 12, 1892. Four years later his mother died during childbirth. When his father became unable to care for him, Henry went first to a boys' home and later to the Lincoln Asylum in downstate Illinois. After his father's ddeath, he ran away to Chicago where he lived the rest of his life, worknig as a janitor, dishwasher, and bandage roller in three local hospitals. By night he wrote his great unfinished novel, In the Realms of the Unreal, and later created the artworks for which he is best known. He died in 1973.

About this edition

• Publisher: Rizzoli International Publications
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0847822842
• ISBN 13: 9780847822843
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 254