Henry Darger

Henry Darger
Photograph of Henry Darger taken by David Berglund in 1971
Born	Henry Joseph Darger, Jr. (1892-04-12)April 12, 1892 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	April 13, 1973(1973-04-13) (aged 81) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Nationality	American
Known for	Painting, Collage, Writing, Pencil and pen drawing, Sketching
Notable work	In the Realms of the Unreal The History of My Life Crazy House: Further Adventures in Chicago
Movement	Outsider art

Henry Joseph Darger, Jr. (/ˈdɑːrdʒər/; c. April 12, 1892 – April 13, 1973) was a reclusive American writer and artist who worked as a hospital custodian in Chicago, Illinois. He has become famous for his posthumously discovered 15,145-page, single-spaced fantasy manuscript called The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion, along with several hundred drawings and watercolor paintings illustrating the story. The visual subject matter of his work ranges from idyllic scenes in Edwardian interiors and tranquil flowered landscapes populated by children and fantastic creatures, to scenes of horrific terror and carnage depicting young children being tortured and massacred. Much of his artwork is mixed media with collage elements. Darger's artwork has become one of the most celebrated examples of outsider art.

Darger was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Henry Darger Sr. and Rosa Fullman.Cook County records show he was born at home, located at 350 W. 24th Street. When he was four years old, his mother died of puerperal fever after giving birth to a daughter, who was given up for adoption; Henry Darger never knew his sister. One of Darger's biographers, the art historian and psychologist John M. MacGregor, discovered that Rosa had two children before Henry, but did not discover their whereabouts.

By Darger's own report, his father was kind and reassuring to him and they lived together until 1900. In that year, the crippled and impoverished Darger Sr. was taken to St. Augustine's Catholic Mission home and his son placed in a Catholic boys' home. Darger Sr. died in 1905, and his son was institutionalized in the Illinois Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children in Lincoln, Illinois, also called the Lincoln State School (today the Lincoln Developmental Center), with the diagnosis, according to Stephen Prokopoff, that "little Henry's heart is not in the right place." According to John MacGregor, the diagnosis was actually "self-abuse," a euphemism for masturbation.