I find Henry Darger to be a very interesting man. I honestly see him as a genius. I think people underestimated him. For him to be sent to a home for feeble minded children as a child is absolutely outrageous. He was bumped from 1st grade to 3rd grade, that alone shows that he was not feeble minded. However if what happened to him hadn't happened then maybe he would have never even written all that he had written and become the artist he became. Usually I find documentaries to be kind of boring but not this one. I was interested from beginning to end. I think it’s because Henry Darger was such an astonishing person. That documentary definitely made me want to learn a lot more about him. I think that Henry Darger was also misunderstood. He kept to himself and barely interacted with anybody. Maybe he felt like he had more control in his imaginary world than in real life. He was fully engaged in his imagination so much in fact that he mixed his imaginary world with reality. Imagine we all cut ourselves off from reality and dove fully into our imagination. I think we would all be capable of creating the best works of art that is within us. If only we just let go and used our imagination to its greatest extent. I think that in order to use our imagination to its fullest potential we would have to be kind of like Henry Darger. It makes me think if we were all loners and just lived in our imagination would that mean no wars or any type of violence? All that type of stuff could happen in our imagination but it wouldn't have to be acted out in real life. I kind of think it would be pretty cool to live life mostly in our imagination. Imagine the places we could go. Things would be so different. We'd each live in our own world where anything could happen. That sounds fascinating to me.
I was extremely interested in The Realms of the Unreal, the documentary on Henry Darger’s life (it was funny when no one was certain how to pronounce his last name). I found his art work to be beautiful. I don’t think he lacked intelligence at all, maybe today he’d be diagnosed with autism, or some kind of post-traumatic stress disorder. There was a lot of misfortune in Henry’s life, I feel he might have lost interest in humanity. Which could also explain his eventual interest in children, and wanting to adopt so bad, because children are innocent. He could have very well just been a shy, quiet guy. Whatever the case was, I believe he was a very intelligent and gifted person. I think the fact that he carried on The Story of the Vivian Girls, and wrote one of the longest novels ever with 9 million words, just compliments on his creativity. He also taught himself how to draw using magazines and newspapers this speaks volumes about his determination, patience, and personality in general. I think Henry was just a misunderstood genius.
I found Henry Darger's artwork to be brilliant. I've never seen anything like it . The way he taught himself was very clever(I would never think to use tracing paper!) Many people would find his recluse ways to be weird but I somewhat understand it. He wanted to be close to God. And some people feel by doing that you must "stay away from worldly things". Pretty old fashion but it makes sense. He was a true artist. Self taught and very imaginative. He wrote about a group of girls called The Vivian Sisters. He loved children. He loved them so much that he wrote about them and always wrote about protecting them. Which was probably because of the way he was treated as a young boy.Never being accepted and being sent away. Having no one Darger turned to his creativity.
Henry Darger was certainly an interesting character. His unusually cruel upbringing seemed to play a huge role in how he viewed the world. At a young age Henry was diagnosed as “feeble minded” and sent away to an institution. While attending this institution for feeble minded children Henry was often harassed. He also spent long hours performing manual labor tasks in the field. He often dreamed of running away to Chicago where he was born and raised for a short time. He eventually escaped the institution one day and walked over a hundred miles from Decatur to Chicago only to be put into a very strict boarding school. He later confessed that the conditions in the catholic boarding school were worse than the institution he ran away from. He was deeply affected by this and even speculated if he made it to heaven would he try to escape from there too.
He was a very religious man. He attended a nearby catholic church everyday in his adult life. One of, if not the biggest, internal struggles Henry endured was his relationship with God. He strove to be saintly and an upright human being, but given his reocurring angry and profanity laced outbursts, he did not view himself was as such. He exceedingly spent time in his room during his non working hours drawing, painting, and writing an alternative universe. A universe that was governed by Henry, but also seemed to take a life of its own. His 15,000 page story focused for the most part on the battles of the Christian forces that defended and protected little children, versus the forces of the evil children torturers. It was an ongoing battle between these two, and Henry himself was a character that fought on either side.
No matter the social stigmas that surrounded Henry Darger he was still a man of great imagination and creativity. He was certainly a unique individual who I think was a bit troubled and also highly misunderstood, as a lot of artists appear to be. After seeing his strange and talented imaginary world, I would speculate if Henry Darger lived today he would invent a World of Warcraft like computer game and indirectly become a millionaire. He was a recluse that spent a vast majority of time by himself, but what he lacked in a rich social life he made up for with a creative masterpiece that will be talked about for a long while.
Henry Dargers documentary made me feel a variety of emotions. His life story seems very sad and lonely, but at the same time filled with wonder. It made me think of a lot of things. Henry Darger also made me realize certain things I had doubt on, or didn’t believe in. I though his childhood was pretty rough. His mother died when he was very young, and his dad was ill. I think the fact that he was skilled in reading , since his dad put him to read newspapers , gave him a huge advantage in school. He was able to read better than other kids, and he skipped a grade. I cant understand how he developed such a gigantic imagination though, I have never seen or heard of anyone being able to do what he did. I like how his work was original and creative. I don’t think anyone will ever come up with the things he did. Its unfortunate how he had the body of an old person, but the mind of a child. He also only had one true friend, which died before him. He created his own little world, since I guess his life was boring. He escape his problems and emotions through creating and living in his imagination. Im amazed on how much devotion he put on his work, and that gave me inspiration of doing things I’ve only though of at this point. I think towards the end that he trusted certain things that are unpredictable and inaccurate: Religion and Weather. He was frustrated with the fact his prayers weren’t answered for an adoption, and the weather wasn’t correct based on the newspapers. This made him express his anger through his story, making it have 2 endings, one of victory, the other of defeat
The movie about Henry Darger and his book <> is so magical for me. I think Henry Darger is a genius and he has a super stamina to write a such a long book. His drawing is so beautiful and the people inside the picture is so vivid. I love his work. I think that the girl that he draw in his book is represent himself. He is showing something he didn’t satify in the real worls and he try to express his feeling from the book. And also Darger was not satisfied with his ability to draw the human form, so he used tracings of figures from newspapers, comic books and magazine photographs to illustrate his heroines, compiling a gestural dictionary that he used over and over.And the other interesting thing is that his friend mention in the movie that he sometimes have a conversation with himself. I don’t think he is insane. I think that is a way for him to live in the own world and escape from the real world. And the book act like a tool, he use it to communicate with the fake world and the real world. And also I am so appreciate with his imagination. It’s more powerful than what I can imagine. At the end, I think Henry Darger such a fantastic person he is.
Henry Darger was one of a kind. He was not your average person but he was a man with a big imagination. Darger was born in Chicago, Illinois in April of 1892. At the age of four, his mother passed away giving birth to his sister whom he does not know because she was given up for adoption. He also has other siblings that he does not know as well. Darger’s father cared for Darger until he became crippled and was placed in St. Augustine’s Catholic Mission home. However, he was pronounced dead in 1905. While still being at a young age, Darger was placed in a mental institution for feeble minded children. During his time there, he has been attacked by other children as well as teachers, which caused him to escape from the institution later on as the years passed. When Darger’s escape back to Chicago became a success at the age of 16, he found himself a job at a Catholic Hospital, he continues to work there until his retirement. Darger’s work is amazing. In his store In The Realms of the Unreal Darger somewhat did a biography of himself. However, it was interesting that he used little girls in this story rather than little boys. People believed that Darger did not know the difference between male and female because in The Realms of the Unreal, the girls had little penises. It was understandable because he was surrounded by boys at the institution. The girls seemed like boys in a way because they were able to do anything a boy can do; they were strong and took on the hard deeds of a male. You can sense that Darger used reality combined with his imagination to create this story. He knows that the real world is awful and cruel so he brings that into the story whereas he is the ruler of that world. The world can be whatever he pleases. According to Darger’s neighbors, Darger was the most anti-social man you can find. He hardly spoke to anyone nor did he want to be spoken to. Whenever there was a chance to speak to him, he only spoke about the weather, for example, he would say things like “There is a storm In California” and “A Tornado just hit Kansas.” Many may find that weird but let’s face it, he was a man that kept all things to himself. It was also mentioned that he use to be in a room all alone making all type of different sounds. It was as if he was socializing with others in the room but unfortunately, we all knew that was not the case. I think that Darger put a lot of creativity in his art work. I liked how he cut and pasted pictures from magazines and advertisements to build his master piece. There are not many people like Darger in this world, meaning being mentally ill yet, having a wild imagination that captures peoples interest. All in all, it is just like I said before, and I must say again, Henry Darger is one of a kind.
“His name, Henry Darber”… “We all called him Henry Dawger”… “No, it was Henry Darger”… “Henry Darger”… “Darber”… “Darger”… “Darger.”
His real name was Henry Joseph Darger Jr. To others, he was an odd man; to me, he was an interesting, yet peculiar individual. What makes him so interesting is his imagination and the stories he created on paper. Henry created this whole other world. He drew stories of 7 girl princesses who revolted. Only girls he drew. No boys. Girls with boy’s genitals. The reason for that was because he didn’t know the difference between boy’s body parts and girl’s. I find curiosity in this because Henry told his friend that he was raped by a 17-year old Italian girl. But Henry’s definition of rape wasn’t sex without permission, it was cutting open someone and taking out their insides (which he illustrated in his book). That part wasn’t talked about in much detail, but I would like to know more about it.
When Darber was a boy, he was diagnosed as “feeble minded” or as others would say, crazy. The doctor told him his heart wasn’t in the right place. He was soon released to an Asylum in Chicago, Illinois of 1,500 feeble minded children.
His mother passed away while giving birth to his sister, who he has never met, since she was adopted. While Henry was attending the Asylum, he received a note his father died in the St. Augustine Home. Henry once, tried to run away but didn’t get very far because a cowboy found him, tied his hands together and made Henry run all the way back to the hospital. He then tried again and succeeded. He walked all the way from Decatur, Illinois to Chicago; which is approximately 181.4 miles.
In 1909, Henry began the writing of his 15,000 page book, In The Realms Of The Unreal or The Story of the Vivian Girls. He would illustrate and include people from his life in his book; a boy from the Asylum, his friend Willy,
In the year of 1970, Henry was drafted into World War I. He dramatized his trouble with seeing and was then discharged.
His neighbor and landlady shared their thoughts about him. “I guess as children, Henry seemed funny and different. We just thought he was funny…entertaining, I guess.” Said Mary O’Donnell, Henry’s neighbor. “He did not want to speak to anybody and he didn’t want anybody speaking to him.” “ My first impression of Henry was that, he was not able to relate to anything or anybody around him, surrounding him. He was old by himself and he was very alone.” Explained Kiyoko Lerner.
Henry Darger was the most unique individual I’ve ever learned about. He was a child, trapped in a man’s body. I love the way he lost himself in his story and imagined this whole other world, that seemed like impossible ideas to consume. I love that he was different and that it takes some time to describe what kind of man he was. Being called different is the best compliment you can ever get and Henry Darger was just that.
“ His name, Henry Darger... “We all called him, Henry Dawger... “No it was Henry Darger. He pronounced his name Henry Darger” … “Henry Darger”... “Darber”... “Darger”... “Darrger”
His real name was Henry Joseph Darger Jr. To others he was considered a bit odd. To me, he was viewed as peculiar but also extraordinary. His imagination and creativity was evenly spread out with vivid illustration and story line in his 15,000 page book, The Realms of the Unreal or The Story of the Vivian Girls. His story told of 7 Vivian princesses (Daisy, Heady, Violet, Joyce, Jenni, Angeline and Catherine), who were unlike any usual girls. They were religious Catholics; going to Mass everyday. These princesses were more like men than little girls. Darber included people in his childhood in his stories; a boy named John Manley and his friend, William Shrodder. In his book John was General Manley. Henry was taken to the doctor when he was just a boy and was diagnosed as “feeble minded” or as others call it, crazy. His doctor told him his heart was in the wrong place. “Where was it supposed to be...in my belly!?” pronounced Darger. Henry was taken to the Asylum of 1,500 “feeble minded” children, in Decatur, Illinois The children there were predicted to grow up to be extremely ignorant and useless. While Henry was there, he received the shocking news that his father died while living in the St.Augustine Home, where he’d been living. In Henry’s first attempt to run away, he was soon caught by a local cowboy, who tied him up and made him run all the way back to the Asylum. Henry made another attempt, which was successful. He walked all the way to Chicago, which is 181.4 miles from Decatur. Henry’s story book wasn’t an ordinary story book. It was different. There were no boys, just girls. There were men but no boys. He drew the girls with boy’s genitals because it was believed that Henry didn’t know the difference between a boy’s body parts and a girl’s. If that was the case, than I find it very odd that he told his friend he was raped by a 17 year old Italian lady. But rape to Henry didn’t mean having consensual sex. To him, it meant cutting someone open and taking out their insides (as said in his story). There wasn’t much detail about that but that is something I’m curious about. Henry J. Darger was unique in his own way. He was a little kid in a grown man’s body. He is the most remarkable person I’ve every learned about. The fact that he was different is what I like the most. He wrote and drew a book about things people wouldn’t usually think to write about. I think being called different is the best compliment you can get and Henry definitely was that and played it well.
I found Henry Darger to be a very unique yet odd character of his own kind that people hardly noticed. The world around him was so isolated and filled with lonesome but his imagination was a world itself. At a ripe age in the year of 1905 after the death of his sick father, Darger was institutionalized into a Catholic Home. The reasoning was said to be that "his heart was not in the right place" but in reality doctors diagnosed him as a "feeble minded" child because of his strange and isolated ways. Years later at the age of 16, Darger and a group of kids whom also stayed at the Catholic home, successfully ran away after a number of failed accounts to do so. Over a hundred miles away from his home in Chicago he begins his walk from Decatur,Illinois to Chicago and made it to a boarding school which he later said to be worst than the St.Augustine Home he attended as a child. The severe abuse and treatment Darger endured as a child while at the St. Augistine Home and Catholic boarding school reflected in his stories and paintings of the Abeinnian Vivian Girls. The Vivian Girls were his escape and way of expressing his life and thoughts no one ever knew about until after his death. These eery and gloomy paintings consisted of seven girls who represented the seven colors of the rainbow as well as the innocent children and people of this world. Darger's paintings depicted these seven little girls as warriors and drew them with penises in a number of his artworks. His drawings also consisted of his beliefs in the child sex slave trade and the wrong doings of the evil men behind it. Darger creates his own definition of genius for me. His life was not filled with much excitement nor people, yet he used is own imagination as a survival tool. This prime example shows how powerful and effective the mind can be. Overall Darger had a mind amongst many and will be remembered through his artwork and 15,000 page autobiography.
I found henry very interesting. He was a man that went throught alot in his life. His imagionation was creativity and brough one of the biggest novels and art work in ages. The villian girls, in my prespective was a way of seen his life in another way. The struggles they passed through was the ones he was having. They said that when he was in his room they would think he was having various conversations, well that was the only way for him not to feel alone. He's passion for kids did not grown so big but either way he wanted to adopt a kid but his petition got rejected by the church. He's art workn was big it went up to 15.000 pages of autobiography typewriter or even by hand.
I find Henry Darger to be a very interesting man. I honestly see him as a genius. I think people underestimated him. For him to be sent to a home for feeble minded children as a child is absolutely outrageous. He was bumped from 1st grade to 3rd grade, that alone shows that he was not feeble minded. However if what happened to him hadn't happened then maybe he would have never even written all that he had written and become the artist he became. Usually I find documentaries to be kind of boring but not this one. I was interested from beginning to end. I think it’s because Henry Darger was such an astonishing person. That documentary definitely made me want to learn a lot more about him. I think that Henry Darger was also misunderstood. He kept to himself and barely interacted with anybody. Maybe he felt like he had more control in his imaginary world than in real life. He was fully engaged in his imagination so much in fact that he mixed his imaginary world with reality. Imagine we all cut ourselves off from reality and dove fully into our imagination. I think we would all be capable of creating the best works of art that is within us. If only we just let go and used our imagination to its greatest extent. I think that in order to use our imagination to its fullest potential we would have to be kind of like Henry Darger. It makes me think if we were all loners and just lived in our imagination would that mean no wars or any type of violence? All that type of stuff could happen in our imagination but it wouldn't have to be acted out in real life. I kind of think it would be pretty cool to live life mostly in our imagination. Imagine the places we could go. Things would be so different. We'd each live in our own world where anything could happen. That sounds fascinating to me.
ReplyDeleteI was extremely interested in The Realms of the Unreal, the documentary on Henry Darger’s life (it was funny when no one was certain how to pronounce his last name). I found his art work to be beautiful. I don’t think he lacked intelligence at all, maybe today he’d be diagnosed with autism, or some kind of post-traumatic stress disorder. There was a lot of misfortune in Henry’s life, I feel he might have lost interest in humanity. Which could also explain his eventual interest in children, and wanting to adopt so bad, because children are innocent. He could have very well just been a shy, quiet guy. Whatever the case was, I believe he was a very intelligent and gifted person. I think the fact that he carried on The Story of the Vivian Girls, and wrote one of the longest novels ever with 9 million words, just compliments on his creativity. He also taught himself how to draw using magazines and newspapers this speaks volumes about his determination, patience, and personality in general. I think Henry was just a misunderstood genius.
ReplyDeleteI found Henry Darger's artwork to be brilliant. I've never seen anything like it . The way he taught himself was very clever(I would never think to use tracing paper!) Many people would find his recluse ways to be weird but I somewhat understand it. He wanted to be close to God. And some people feel by doing that you must "stay away from worldly things". Pretty old fashion but it makes sense. He was a true artist. Self taught and very imaginative. He wrote about a group of girls called The Vivian Sisters. He loved children. He loved them so much that he wrote about them and always wrote about protecting them. Which was probably because of the way he was treated as a young boy.Never being accepted and being sent away.
ReplyDeleteHaving no one Darger turned to his creativity.
He was smart and very creative!
My favorite piece:
http://www.curatedobject.us/.a/6a00e54f9f8f8c88340133ee96d8bd970b-pi
Henry Darger was certainly an interesting character. His unusually cruel upbringing seemed to play a huge role in how he viewed the world. At a young age Henry was diagnosed as “feeble minded” and sent away to an institution. While attending this institution for feeble minded children Henry was often harassed. He also spent long hours performing manual labor tasks in the field. He often dreamed of running away to Chicago where he was born and raised for a short time. He eventually escaped the institution one day and walked over a hundred miles from Decatur to Chicago only to be put into a very strict boarding school. He later confessed that the conditions in the catholic boarding school were worse than the institution he ran away from. He was deeply affected by this and even speculated if he made it to heaven would he try to escape from there too.
ReplyDeleteHe was a very religious man. He attended a nearby catholic church everyday in his adult life. One of, if not the biggest, internal struggles Henry endured was his relationship with God. He strove to be saintly and an upright human being, but given his reocurring angry and profanity laced outbursts, he did not view himself was as such. He exceedingly spent time in his room during his non working hours drawing, painting, and writing an alternative universe. A universe that was governed by Henry, but also seemed to take a life of its own. His 15,000 page story focused for the most part on the battles of the Christian forces that defended and protected little children, versus the forces of the evil children torturers. It was an ongoing battle between these two, and Henry himself was a character that fought on either side.
No matter the social stigmas that surrounded Henry Darger he was still a man of great imagination and creativity. He was certainly a unique individual who I think was a bit troubled and also highly misunderstood, as a lot of artists appear to be. After seeing his strange and talented imaginary world, I would speculate if Henry Darger lived today he would invent a World of Warcraft like computer game and indirectly become a millionaire. He was a recluse that spent a vast majority of time by himself, but what he lacked in a rich social life he made up for with a creative masterpiece that will be talked about for a long while.
Henry Dargers documentary made me feel a variety of emotions. His life story seems very sad and lonely, but at the same time filled with wonder. It made me think of a lot of things. Henry Darger also made me realize certain things I had doubt on, or didn’t believe in.
ReplyDeleteI though his childhood was pretty rough. His mother died when he was very young, and his dad was ill. I think the fact that he was skilled in reading , since his dad put him to read newspapers , gave him a huge advantage in school. He was able to read better than other kids, and he skipped a grade. I cant understand how he developed such a gigantic imagination though, I have never seen or heard of anyone being able to do what he did.
I like how his work was original and creative. I don’t think anyone will ever come up with the things he did. Its unfortunate how he had the body of an old person, but the mind of a child. He also only had one true friend, which died before him.
He created his own little world, since I guess his life was boring. He escape his problems and emotions through creating and living in his imagination. Im amazed on how much devotion he put on his work, and that gave me inspiration of doing things I’ve only though of at this point.
I think towards the end that he trusted certain things that are unpredictable and inaccurate: Religion and Weather. He was frustrated with the fact his prayers weren’t answered for an adoption, and the weather wasn’t correct based on the newspapers. This made him express his anger through his story, making it have 2 endings, one of victory, the other of defeat
The movie about Henry Darger and his book <> is so magical for me. I think Henry Darger is a genius and he has a super stamina to write a such a long book. His drawing is so beautiful and the people inside the picture is so vivid. I love his work. I think that the girl that he draw in his book is represent himself. He is showing something he didn’t satify in the real worls and he try to express his feeling from the book. And also Darger was not satisfied with his ability to draw the human form, so he used tracings of figures from newspapers, comic books and magazine photographs to illustrate his heroines, compiling a gestural dictionary that he used over and over.And the other interesting thing is that his friend mention in the movie that he sometimes have a conversation with himself. I don’t think he is insane. I think that is a way for him to live in the own world and escape from the real world. And the book act like a tool, he use it to communicate with the fake world and the real world. And also I am so appreciate with his imagination. It’s more powerful than what I can imagine. At the end, I think Henry Darger such a fantastic person he is.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHenry Darger was one of a kind. He was not your average person but he was a man with a big imagination. Darger was born in Chicago, Illinois in April of 1892. At the age of four, his mother passed away giving birth to his sister whom he does not know because she was given up for adoption. He also has other siblings that he does not know as well. Darger’s father cared for Darger until he became crippled and was placed in St. Augustine’s Catholic Mission home. However, he was pronounced dead in 1905. While still being at a young age, Darger was placed in a mental institution for feeble minded children. During his time there, he has been attacked by other children as well as teachers, which caused him to escape from the institution later on as the years passed. When Darger’s escape back to Chicago became a success at the age of 16, he found himself a job at a Catholic Hospital, he continues to work there until his retirement.
ReplyDeleteDarger’s work is amazing. In his store In The Realms of the Unreal Darger somewhat did a biography of himself. However, it was interesting that he used little girls in this story rather than little boys. People believed that Darger did not know the difference between male and female because in The Realms of the Unreal, the girls had little penises. It was understandable because he was surrounded by boys at the institution. The girls seemed like boys in a way because they were able to do anything a boy can do; they were strong and took on the hard deeds of a male. You can sense that Darger used reality combined with his imagination to create this story. He knows that the real world is awful and cruel so he brings that into the story whereas he is the ruler of that world. The world can be whatever he pleases.
According to Darger’s neighbors, Darger was the most anti-social man you can find. He hardly spoke to anyone nor did he want to be spoken to. Whenever there was a chance to speak to him, he only spoke about the weather, for example, he would say things like “There is a storm In California” and “A Tornado just hit Kansas.” Many may find that weird but let’s face it, he was a man that kept all things to himself. It was also mentioned that he use to be in a room all alone making all type of different sounds. It was as if he was socializing with others in the room but unfortunately, we all knew that was not the case.
I think that Darger put a lot of creativity in his art work. I liked how he cut and pasted pictures from magazines and advertisements to build his master piece. There are not many people like Darger in this world, meaning being mentally ill yet, having a wild imagination that captures peoples interest. All in all, it is just like I said before, and I must say again, Henry Darger is one of a kind.
“His name, Henry Darber”… “We all called him Henry Dawger”… “No, it was Henry Darger”… “Henry Darger”… “Darber”… “Darger”… “Darger.”
ReplyDeleteHis real name was Henry Joseph Darger Jr. To others, he was an odd man; to me, he was an interesting, yet peculiar individual. What makes him so interesting is his imagination and the stories he created on paper. Henry created this whole other world. He drew stories of 7 girl princesses who revolted. Only girls he drew. No boys. Girls with boy’s genitals. The reason for that was because he didn’t know the difference between boy’s body parts and girl’s. I find curiosity in this because Henry told his friend that he was raped by a 17-year old Italian girl. But Henry’s definition of rape wasn’t sex without permission, it was cutting open someone and taking out their insides (which he illustrated in his book). That part wasn’t talked about in much detail, but I would like to know more about it.
When Darber was a boy, he was diagnosed as “feeble minded” or as others would say, crazy. The doctor told him his heart wasn’t in the right place. He was soon released to an Asylum in Chicago, Illinois of 1,500 feeble minded children.
His mother passed away while giving birth to his sister, who he has never met, since she was adopted. While Henry was attending the Asylum, he received a note his father died in the St. Augustine Home. Henry once, tried to run away but didn’t get very far because a cowboy found him, tied his hands together and made Henry run all the way back to the hospital. He then tried again and succeeded. He walked all the way from Decatur, Illinois to Chicago; which is approximately 181.4 miles.
In 1909, Henry began the writing of his 15,000 page book, In The Realms Of The Unreal or The Story of the Vivian Girls. He would illustrate and include people from his life in his book; a boy from the Asylum, his friend Willy,
In the year of 1970, Henry was drafted into World War I. He dramatized his trouble with seeing and was then discharged.
His neighbor and landlady shared their thoughts about him. “I guess as children, Henry seemed funny and different. We just thought he was funny…entertaining, I guess.” Said Mary O’Donnell, Henry’s neighbor. “He did not want to speak to anybody and he didn’t want anybody speaking to him.”
“ My first impression of Henry was that, he was not able to relate to anything or anybody around him, surrounding him. He was old by himself and he was very alone.” Explained Kiyoko Lerner.
Henry Darger was the most unique individual I’ve ever learned about. He was a child, trapped in a man’s body. I love the way he lost himself in his story and imagined this whole other world, that seemed like impossible ideas to consume. I love that he was different and that it takes some time to describe what kind of man he was. Being called different is the best compliment you can ever get and Henry Darger was just that.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete“ His name, Henry Darger... “We all called him, Henry Dawger... “No it was Henry Darger. He pronounced his name Henry Darger” … “Henry Darger”... “Darber”... “Darger”... “Darrger”
ReplyDeleteHis real name was Henry Joseph Darger Jr. To others he was considered a bit odd. To me, he was viewed as peculiar but also extraordinary. His imagination and creativity was evenly spread out with vivid illustration and story line in his 15,000 page book, The Realms of the Unreal or The Story of the Vivian Girls. His story told of 7 Vivian princesses (Daisy, Heady, Violet, Joyce, Jenni, Angeline and Catherine), who were unlike any usual girls. They were religious Catholics; going to Mass everyday. These princesses were more like men than little girls.
Darber included people in his childhood in his stories; a boy named John Manley and his friend, William Shrodder. In his book John was General Manley.
Henry was taken to the doctor when he was just a boy and was diagnosed as “feeble minded” or as others call it, crazy. His doctor told him his heart was in the wrong place. “Where was it supposed to be...in my belly!?” pronounced Darger. Henry was taken to the Asylum of 1,500 “feeble minded” children, in Decatur, Illinois The children there were predicted to grow up to be extremely ignorant and useless. While Henry was there, he received the shocking news that his father died while living in the St.Augustine Home, where he’d been living. In Henry’s first attempt to run away, he was soon caught by a local cowboy, who tied him up and made him run all the way back to the Asylum. Henry made another attempt, which was successful. He walked all the way to Chicago, which is 181.4 miles from Decatur.
Henry’s story book wasn’t an ordinary story book. It was different. There were no boys, just girls. There were men but no boys. He drew the girls with boy’s genitals because it was believed that Henry didn’t know the difference between a boy’s body parts and a girl’s. If that was the case, than I find it very odd that he told his friend he was raped by a 17 year old Italian lady. But rape to Henry didn’t mean having consensual sex. To him, it meant cutting someone open and taking out their insides (as said in his story). There wasn’t much detail about that but that is something I’m curious about.
Henry J. Darger was unique in his own way. He was a little kid in a grown man’s body. He is the most remarkable person I’ve every learned about. The fact that he was different is what I like the most. He wrote and drew a book about things people wouldn’t usually think to write about. I think being called different is the best compliment you can get and Henry definitely was that and played it well.
I found Henry Darger to be a very unique yet odd character of his own kind that people hardly noticed. The world around him was so isolated and filled with lonesome but his imagination was a world itself. At a ripe age in the year of 1905 after the death of his sick father, Darger was institutionalized into a Catholic Home. The reasoning was said to be that "his heart was not in the right place" but in reality doctors diagnosed him as a "feeble minded" child because of his strange and isolated ways.
ReplyDeleteYears later at the age of 16, Darger and a group of kids whom also stayed at the Catholic home, successfully ran away after a number of failed accounts to do so. Over a hundred miles away from his home in Chicago he begins his walk from Decatur,Illinois to Chicago and made it to a boarding school which he later said to be worst than the St.Augustine Home he attended as a child.
The severe abuse and treatment Darger endured as a child while at the St. Augistine Home and Catholic boarding school reflected in his stories and paintings of the Abeinnian Vivian Girls. The Vivian Girls were his escape and way of expressing his life and thoughts no one ever knew about until after his death. These eery and gloomy paintings consisted of seven girls who represented the seven colors of the rainbow as well as the innocent children and people of this world.
Darger's paintings depicted these seven little girls as warriors and drew them with penises in a number of his artworks. His drawings also consisted of his beliefs in the child sex slave trade and the wrong doings of the evil men behind it.
Darger creates his own definition of genius for me. His life was not filled with much excitement nor people, yet he used is own imagination as a survival tool. This prime example shows how powerful and effective the mind can be. Overall Darger had a mind amongst many and will be remembered through his artwork and 15,000 page autobiography.
I found henry very interesting. He was a man that went throught alot in his life. His imagionation was creativity and brough one of the biggest novels and art work in ages. The villian girls, in my prespective was a way of seen his life in another way. The struggles they passed through was the ones he was having. They said that when he was in his room they would think he was having various conversations, well that was the only way for him not to feel alone. He's passion for kids did not grown so big but either way he wanted to adopt a kid but his petition got rejected by the church. He's art workn was big it went up to 15.000 pages of autobiography typewriter or even by hand.
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