Henry Darger

In crafts class we watched a documentary about an outsider artist, Henry Darger, who created a fictional, 15,000-page masterpiece titled The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What Is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion, or In the Realms of the Unreal, for short.  Darger created watercolors and collages with found images and materials to illustrate his epic tale of the Vivian sisters.  I had never heard of the term "outsider artist" before.  An outsider artist is one who is self-taught, with no formal or academic training.  I had also never heard of Henry Darger.  His art was not discovered until his death, when his landlords cleaned out his apartment.

Darger's art is so colorful and vivid! They are such imaginitive landscapes!  Besides the coloring, I am drawn to the busy-ness and particular format (panoramic) of the scenes.  To be frank, some of the subject matter is quite disturbing and weird.  Aside from that, Darger's art is infinitely fascinating. 

The American Folk Art Museum in New York currently has the largest collection of Henry Darger's work, and from what I've found, they have the best online image source.