Twenty-five years after his death, the works of self-taught Chicago artist Henry Darger continue to inspire admiration, confusion and revulsion. While his watercolor paintings have been praised for their visionary quality, their obsessive content can be disturbing. Little girls, for example, are often depicted by this troubled recluse as victims of violence; some have male genitals. So when the Chicago Cultural Center mounted an exhibition of this controversial art, we decided to ask people who saw it for their comments. Here’s what some had to say:
“I think there’s something ironic about it. He lived in poverty and obscurity and was mentally ill. The new popularity of outsider art is almost like making a fetish of someone’s insanity. The more poor, obscure and crazy someone is the more their art is valued, and the people who are collecting it are wealthy and upwardly mobile. But it’s good art; I like it.”
Matti Allison, Chicago
“You can have a visceral reaction to it, but you should also pay attention to what he was saying. He obviously identifies with children, but there’s this whole other level going on with these weird little girls with male sex organs. But it’s on paper, it’s fantasy. It’s not going to harm anyone. It wasn’t even meant to be seen.”
Sasha Rubel, Chicago
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“I don’t understand it. I can see his process, how he made the work. But I wonder what was at the back of his mind. Was there some repression in his thinking? . . . In a way I find it disturbing. It’s like a picture you’d put in a bar – it’s provocative, it can start a conversation.”
Jesus Vega, Chicago
“The innocence of the picture and the context of the picture is frightening. At first it seems it would be nice to put (the artwork) in a children’s hospital, but it’s too horrifying. As far as I can judge, it’s all about child abuse, in a naive way. It’s not about happy youth.”
Willium Proesmans, Leuven, Belgium
“I’m knocked off my feet. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. I’m interested in the man, Henry Darger. It’s very challenging and I’m glad that I’m challenged. I think it’s very important that they decided to exhibit this and that people didn’t dismiss it.”
Joe Powers Sr., Oak Park