Henry Darger : the greatest creative tragedy I have known

[Gunner Recall]

My only fear is I'll end up some more pathetic version of Henry Darger who leaves behind no lasting legacy. I'd very much like to read some of his work...shame everything seems to be other people writing about him.

[Ghost Hip]

That pisses me off! I'm putting him in a song thats worthy of recording so his name will be recorded.... and maybe someday talked about more than it was before.

EDIT: okay so i'll be one of many, whatever, it still matters....

[WaveForm3]

Damn, that's sad.

I really really respect authors (except a couple, mind you, because it's personal) and for someone to go unpublished and sold piece by piece, damn that's just so sad.

Makes me worry about humanity.

[dronemachine]

.

[V0id]

Just vultures having a feast when the sheep is dead

[Gopherbassist]

He's the one who didn't have it published, I don't really see what the big deal is. The owners are doing away with something they have no use for, at least they're not destroying it so that no one can enjoy it. My only question is why didn't his family get the rights to the works, or did he not have any?

[Caesar]

Just vultures having a feast when the sheep is dead

Vultures gotta eat too.

[V0id]

Yes, but... These kind of vultures decided to be vultures

[Gunner Recall]

Some authors/artists never publish a lot of their work for one reason or another...many are insecure or feel their work will tarnish their image etc.

Works like these never see the light of day until enough people fill their wallets off of it (which rarely happens)

It truely saddens me.

[echohead]

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4404410/Henry_Darger_-_In_the_Realms_of_the_Unreal_(2005)

Read up on this guy : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Darger

Long-story-short. He was born at the turn of the century (1900), died around 1970... worked as a janitor, and was a shut in who wrote a 15,000 page novel, with illustrations... some as long as 20 feet.

... and everyone is so enamoured by his life story and the illustrations to his novel, but I have yet to come across one fucking article where anyone takes issue with the fact his work has been destroyed through the obsession of the "ideal" of him, and the visual aesthetics of his drawings rather than his actual collective creative work.

The illustrations to his epic story have been sold off piece by piece, and his stories have never been published... not even his auto biography.



It's like someone finding a dead butterfly, and then ripping apart its wings to display around the world in private and public collections. Yes, they are beautiful individually, but not close to what it was as a whole.

I feel like everyone is missing the fucking point with Henry Darger, and there's so much we will never know because of the way his landlords misused his legacy for financial gain.

Everything about his life resonates with me on so many levels... but it's all so empty knowing his work is unavailable for the general public to appreciate for themselves and come to their own conclusions about his life, and his novels.

[Gunner Recall]

What museum?

*edit* american folk art museum I hope? I'm pretty close to nyc...

[Caesar]

Yes, but... These kind of vultures decided to be vultures

Bah. Most well known historical "art" is the result of marketing.

[Gunner Recall]

The hours the library keeps would make it very difficult to check it out

Maybe in a few months

[dorfmeister]

Saw a great retrospective of his work at the U of Iowa Museum of Art back in the mid 90s.

[Chankgeez]

Saw a great retrospective of his work at the U of Iowa Museum of Art back in the mid 90s.

SRSLY?