An Intuit catalogue from our exhibition curated by Michael Bonesteel
Henry Darger was a native Chicagoan who spent part of his youth consigned to an “Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children” in Lincoln, Ill. As a young adult, he returned to Chicago, where he got a job as a janitor and lived a mostly-reclusive life in a one-room apartment in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Upon his death, Darger’s landlords discovered something incredible: a striking 15,000-page graphic novel entitled In the Realms of the Unreal. The story chronicles the seven Vivian Girls, who lead a bloody rebellion against the child slavery of the evil Glandolinean Army. In spring 2000, Intuit took possession of the contents of Darger’s living and working space, which was installed as a permanent exhibition in 2008. Intuit’s Henry Darger Room Collection includes tracings, clippings from newspapers, magazines, comic books, cartoons, children’s books, personal documents, and architectural elements, fixtures, and furnishings from Darger’s original room.
Exhibition Dates: January 20-May 29, 2017
