Henry Darger: In The Realms Of The Unreal
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In the Realms of the Unreal (2004) is a documentary that introduced the world to Henry Darger, and his epic work 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. Darger was a surreal visionary, prolific artist, novelist, and janitor. The documentary, subtitled 'The Mystery Of Henry Darger', tells the story of this enigmatic author. A quiet and unassuming janitor in his everyday life, but behind closed doors he was the creator of an elaborate fantasy novel that spanned over 15,000 pages, over 15 volumes of intricate artwork and prose, containing more than 9 million words and hundreds of illustrations. Many of the images a mixture of collage (cut from magazines and newspapers) and watercolours. Some of the illustrations spread across 3 metres (10 feet) of paper.
Little is known about the reclusive Darger, apart from his epic legacy. He had lived in his small one-room apartment for 43 years, obsessively working on this intricate artwork. The magnitude of which was discovered after his death in 1973, the titanic work of literature has since become regarded as one of the greatest and most celebrated examples of outsider art. The documentary attempts to make sense of the mind of the artist, through extracts of the epic novel and animations. Yet no-one will ever know what propelled him, or what the work means, and so the work will always remain a mystery. |
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What do we know about the life of Henry Darger?
Henry Darger taken in 1971
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The enigmatic and eccentric Henry Darger was born in 1892, in Chicago. After his father's death in 1905, Darger was institutionalized in the Illinois Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children in Lincoln, Illinois. It's believed that he had undiagnosed Tourettes Syndrome, as in later life he was often heard to mumble to himself seemingly in a language of his own creation. However he was institutionalized for 'self-abuse' (masturbation at the time was perceived as a mental disorder). He eventually escaped in 1908, and with the help of his godmother found employment with a Catholic hospital as a janitor. Where he remained until his retirement in 1963.
In 1930, Darger moved to a little one-room apartment in Chicago's North Side. It was in this small apartment that he would produce the magnum opus that became his life's work. As well as writing 10 years worth of detailed weather journals and various diaries. Darger's landlords, Nathan and Kiyoko Lerner, came across his work shortly before his death, a day after his birthday, on April 13, 1973. In 2001 The American Folk Art Museum in New York City opened a Henry Darger Study Center. His work now commands upwards of $80,000. |
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The vast narrative that brought Darger fame and adulation after his death has been poured over and examined by academics for years. The first question that many ask is, how could someone with little or no education undertake such a mammoth task? A mystery of a great imagination that let itself loose in a world of his own creation. Darger once wrote: "The scenes of the story, as its title indicates, lie among the nations of an unknown, or imaginary, world, or countries, with our earth as their moon, on an imaginary planet, a thousand times as large as our own world." Rather than seen as a lonely and reclusive character, Darger should be seen as someone who transcended this world, creating in lavish detail one of his own. One much larger than this world, one much happier, and more innocent. For that alone Darger should be applauded as one of the greatest writers in history.
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The north wall of Darger's apartment.
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It would seem that Darger was unsatisfied with his ability to draw the human form, as he used tracings of figures from newspapers, comic books and magazine photographs to illustrate his heroines, compiling a large gestural reference dictionary of images that he used over and over again. There is an unique otherworldliness the Darger's technique produced. By his combination of copied figures, that give a look of a children's illustrated bedtime story, set against lush panoramic backgrounds and huge cloud formations (he was also an obsessive weather information collector and recorder). There is a sexual undertone of many of the illustrations, that give an unsettling feel, especially considered that Darger obviously never intended for anyone else to see the work. As viewers now, we are voyeurs into Darger's private fantasies.
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