Post

Murmuria wrote:

Henry Darger, Northern Wood?
The outsider artist of The Vivian Girls fame? I read articles about it and I believe there's a documentary on YouTube. At least I watched one a while ago.
Poor fellow, had a very lonely, heartbreaking life. But his work is fascinating.

Yes, the one and the same. I have not watched any documentaries or movies on him... What did you think of the one you saw? I think I am somewhat concerned how he will be portrayed. If I knew the documentary was going to be the kind of dry, objective overview, then I think I could enjoy it, but I suspect most will have an agenda and attempt to hijack his story for whatever "cause celebre" they happen to favor.

And I agree about his life. I think that's the most interesting thing about him, really. I mean, his writings and paintings are certainly fascinating, but I am most intrigued by the life of a man who toiled all of those years in solitude and anonymous poverty, day after day, alone and apart from the rest of society.

That's one of the things I liked about the book I linked above -- it shows him absorbing the wider popular culture around him and incorporating it in his work, whether its street art or pulp works or newspaper stories or public advertisements or religious pamphlets being handed out to passersby.