6 ms·

Henry Darger

141 points by EndXA 3y ago

lancesells 3y ago
I don't believe he's credited for it, but the cover for the Melvin's Houdini album is drawn from his art https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houdini_(album) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houdini_(album)
39896880 3y ago
He wrote a massive novel, is dead and left no estate, and yet it remains unavailable to read. There is certainly no technological reason why this is the case.
- dfxm12 3y ago
  A lot of problems like the one you're describing boil down to commercial rather than technical reasons.
  - 39896880 3y ago
    Why do some randos get to profit from this work? Life of the author full stop. Leeches and hangers on fuck off.
- 1auralynn 3y ago
  Personally, I find his work compelling - I saw an amazing exhibit at the Frye in Seattle and the scale of it was incredible, also the composition. But I think his work makes some people uncomfortable. From Wikipedia: "One idiosyncratic feature of Darger's artwork is that his girl subjects are shown to have penises when unclothed or partially clothed. Darger biographer Jim Elledge speculates that this represents a reflection of Darger's own childhood issues with sexual identity and homosexuality."
  - 1auralynn 3y ago
    There is a great documentary on him: In the Realms of the Unreal
    - sitkack 3y ago
      I saw this and came to say the same thing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRlvDKcDvsI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRlvDKcDvsI Weird dude, but outsider art is fascinating.
  - fumeux_fume 3y ago
    I also got to see his work at the Frye many years ago. It was one of the best exhibits I've seen in Seattle. That was also the era they had R. Crumb retrospective--a real coup for a museum that's free to the public.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- dhosek 3y ago
  From all accounts, it’s—not good. Also, it’s really long and it would be a non-trivial (and expensive) effort to make it available.
  - 39896880 3y ago
    It's already been digitized [0]. It's just being held up due to you, you guessed it, lawsuits [1]. Whether it's "good" or not is not really relevant; we have the capacity to preserve it and make it available. [1]https://web.archive.org/web/20230811081008/https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=c283844b-1282-4e83-97c9-7de54b3b552c https://web.archive.org/web/20230811081008/https://www.lexol... [0]https://folkartmuseum.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/resources/12 https://folkartmuseum.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/resourc...
- HanClinto 3y ago
  This is the best (only) copy that I have been able to find that appears to be legitimate (?). It only includes selections, is of low quality, and is not the entire work -- but it does provide some legible pages: https://archive.org/details/realms-of-the-unreal/Realms%20of%20the%20unreal%252C%20volume%2001%20-%20intuit_37%20-%20325pp https://archive.org/details/realms-of-the-unreal/Realms%20of... This book also supposedly includes excerpts from his writings, but I didn't check: https://archive.org/details/henrydargerdisas0000darg/ https://archive.org/details/henrydargerdisas0000darg/
JoeDaDude 3y ago
An excellent film about his life and work has been made: In the Realms of the Unreal [1]. Oddly not mentioned in the article (or did I miss it?) [1]. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390123/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390123/
dang 3y ago
Related: In the Realms of the Unreal – Henry Darger's Magnum Opus - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17987678 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17987678 - Sept 2018 (1 comment)
speff 3y ago
Fredrik Knudsen did a really nice video covering Henry in his Down The Rabbit Hole series [1]. Would recommend [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjCS_u3Sgpg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjCS_u3Sgpg
MarcusE1W 3y ago
“I figure that it’s better to be a sucker who makes something than a wise guy who is too cautious to make anything at all.” I really like his quote. Simple, maybe said before in different words, and yet it stops you and makes you think for a moment about yourself.
timetraveller26 3y ago
Henry Darger is one of the most illustrous examples of outsider art https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsider_art https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsider_art He held the same job his entire life as a janitor and yet he created a mystical complex world only know by himself.
- pavlov 3y ago
  In the world of software, the closest equivalent to outsider art would probably be TempleOS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TempleOS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TempleOS
  - kazinator 3y ago
    I would say no, and here is my reasoning. Check the bio. Davis was a skilled programmer with a solid background: a master's degree in electrical engineering from Arizona State, which he earned in 1994, just two years before the documented onset of his mental illness in 1996. Because of his illness, Davis himself became an outsider, clearly. But TempleOS isn't any more "outsider art" than any other solo project, like Bill Joy's vi, or Knuth's TeX or what have you. Also, religious themes aside, the techniques in Temple OS are thoroughly mainstream, full of familiar concepts. The code is understandable to any engineer competent in those areas. (No worse than any other mountain of uncommented code that occurs in our industry, in any case.)
  - npteljes 3y ago
    Maybe the mood is similar, but it's not outsider art, Terry frequently published and participated in communication with regards to TempleOS.
- kazinator 3y ago
  There should be no other art, arguably. What is an "insider" in art? Someone who has a private telephone line to the god of true style?
  - Cthulhu_ 3y ago
agys 3y ago
If you ever happen to be in Lausanne, Switzerland visit the “Collection de l'Art Brut”…! https://www.artbrut.ch/fr_CH/auteurs/la-collection-de-l-art-brut/darger-henry https://www.artbrut.ch/fr_CH/auteurs/la-collection-de-l-art-...
- dheavy 3y ago
  THANK YOU!
- scandox 3y ago
  Also you can view The Prinzhorn collection in Heidelberg Germany. https://www.sammlung-prinzhorn.de/ https://www.sammlung-prinzhorn.de/
markhenderson 3y ago
Another similar artist that's still alive is Jon Sarkin [1] He has made over 10,000 pieces of outsider art usually drawn on the back of vinyl album covers. He has an archive of work online [2] and is active on instagram [3] [1] https://jonsarkin.com https://jonsarkin.com [2] https://archive.jonsarkin.com https://archive.jonsarkin.com [3] https://instagram.com/jonsarkin https://instagram.com/jonsarkin
kazinator 3y ago
The artwork comes across as Japanesque.
- Cthulhu_ 3y ago
  What even is "japanesque"? I don't believe that word has any meaning tbh.
  - kazinator 3y ago
    Why would anyone harbor a belief that can easily be refuted by dictionaries? I don't get it. ELI5.
  - bone_frequency 3y ago
    From the webster entry: -esque adjective suffix : in the manner or style of : like A very accesible blog post on how to use it: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/esque/ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/esque/
el_pollo_diablo 3y ago
I first learnt about Henry Darger in Olivia Laing's The Lonely City. It is a first-hand account of the psychological effects of loneliness and isolation. The author draws parallels between her own experience and that of other artists like Darger, and describes the way in which this experience can drive their creative process.
aworks 3y ago
The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art in Chicago is small but good. I found Darger's art there captivating and disturbing. https://www.art.org/henrydarger/ https://www.art.org/henrydarger/
JeremyNT 3y ago
Much more detail on wikipedia [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Darger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Darger
twinbees 3y ago
Also a song about him https://www.allmusic.com/song/henry-darger-mt0054857381 https://www.allmusic.com/song/henry-darger-mt0054857381
lvspiff 3y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vXjwTux8T4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vXjwTux8T4 - my intro to Henry Darger which sent me down a rabbit hole on wikipedia
dfxm12 3y ago
“I figure that it’s better to be a sucker who makes something than a wise guy who is too cautious to make anything at all.” It very much frustrates me seeing professionals too timid to click through wizards on something as inconsequential as installing Word. "OK, it says click here to continue. Should I click there?" Even when mentoring new team members, I'm amazed at how afraid they might be to try something in a test environment where they know it doesn't matter if something goes wrong. Sometimes I think I've gotten as far as I have in life because I'm just not afraid to try, and I don't even think of myself as a risk taker. I don't care if you think of yourself as a sucker or as a wise guy. Just make the damn thing (even if you're making mistakes).

141 points by EndXA 3y ago

I don't believe he's credited for it, but the cover for the Melvin's Houdini album is drawn from his art https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houdini_(album) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houdini_(album)

39896880 3y ago

He wrote a massive novel, is dead and left no estate, and yet it remains unavailable to read. There is certainly no technological reason why this is the case.

dfxm12 3y ago
A lot of problems like the one you're describing boil down to commercial rather than technical reasons.
- 39896880 3y ago
  Why do some randos get to profit from this work? Life of the author full stop. Leeches and hangers on fuck off.
1auralynn 3y ago
Personally, I find his work compelling - I saw an amazing exhibit at the Frye in Seattle and the scale of it was incredible, also the composition. But I think his work makes some people uncomfortable. From Wikipedia: "One idiosyncratic feature of Darger's artwork is that his girl subjects are shown to have penises when unclothed or partially clothed. Darger biographer Jim Elledge speculates that this represents a reflection of Darger's own childhood issues with sexual identity and homosexuality."
- 1auralynn 3y ago
  There is a great documentary on him: In the Realms of the Unreal
  - sitkack 3y ago
    I saw this and came to say the same thing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRlvDKcDvsI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRlvDKcDvsI Weird dude, but outsider art is fascinating.
- fumeux_fume 3y ago
  I also got to see his work at the Frye many years ago. It was one of the best exhibits I've seen in Seattle. That was also the era they had R. Crumb retrospective--a real coup for a museum that's free to the public.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
dhosek 3y ago
From all accounts, it’s—not good. Also, it’s really long and it would be a non-trivial (and expensive) effort to make it available.
- 39896880 3y ago
  It's already been digitized [0]. It's just being held up due to you, you guessed it, lawsuits [1]. Whether it's "good" or not is not really relevant; we have the capacity to preserve it and make it available. [1]https://web.archive.org/web/20230811081008/https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=c283844b-1282-4e83-97c9-7de54b3b552c https://web.archive.org/web/20230811081008/https://www.lexol... [0]https://folkartmuseum.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/resources/12 https://folkartmuseum.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/resourc...
HanClinto 3y ago
This is the best (only) copy that I have been able to find that appears to be legitimate (?). It only includes selections, is of low quality, and is not the entire work -- but it does provide some legible pages: https://archive.org/details/realms-of-the-unreal/Realms%20of%20the%20unreal%252C%20volume%2001%20-%20intuit_37%20-%20325pp https://archive.org/details/realms-of-the-unreal/Realms%20of... This book also supposedly includes excerpts from his writings, but I didn't check: https://archive.org/details/henrydargerdisas0000darg/ https://archive.org/details/henrydargerdisas0000darg/

JoeDaDude 3y ago

An excellent film about his life and work has been made: In the Realms of the Unreal [1]. Oddly not mentioned in the article (or did I miss it?) [1]. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390123/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390123/

dang 3y ago

Related: In the Realms of the Unreal – Henry Darger's Magnum Opus - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17987678 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17987678 - Sept 2018 (1 comment)

speff 3y ago

Fredrik Knudsen did a really nice video covering Henry in his Down The Rabbit Hole series [1]. Would recommend [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjCS_u3Sgpg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjCS_u3Sgpg

MarcusE1W 3y ago

“I figure that it’s better to be a sucker who makes something than a wise guy who is too cautious to make anything at all.” I really like his quote. Simple, maybe said before in different words, and yet it stops you and makes you think for a moment about yourself.

timetraveller26 3y ago

Henry Darger is one of the most illustrous examples of outsider art https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsider_art https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsider_art He held the same job his entire life as a janitor and yet he created a mystical complex world only know by himself.

pavlov 3y ago
In the world of software, the closest equivalent to outsider art would probably be TempleOS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TempleOS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TempleOS
- kazinator 3y ago
  I would say no, and here is my reasoning. Check the bio. Davis was a skilled programmer with a solid background: a master's degree in electrical engineering from Arizona State, which he earned in 1994, just two years before the documented onset of his mental illness in 1996. Because of his illness, Davis himself became an outsider, clearly. But TempleOS isn't any more "outsider art" than any other solo project, like Bill Joy's vi, or Knuth's TeX or what have you. Also, religious themes aside, the techniques in Temple OS are thoroughly mainstream, full of familiar concepts. The code is understandable to any engineer competent in those areas. (No worse than any other mountain of uncommented code that occurs in our industry, in any case.)
- npteljes 3y ago
  Maybe the mood is similar, but it's not outsider art, Terry frequently published and participated in communication with regards to TempleOS.
kazinator 3y ago
There should be no other art, arguably. What is an "insider" in art? Someone who has a private telephone line to the god of true style?
- Cthulhu_ 3y ago

agys 3y ago

If you ever happen to be in Lausanne, Switzerland visit the “Collection de l'Art Brut”…! https://www.artbrut.ch/fr_CH/auteurs/la-collection-de-l-art-brut/darger-henry https://www.artbrut.ch/fr_CH/auteurs/la-collection-de-l-art-...

dheavy 3y ago
THANK YOU!
scandox 3y ago
Also you can view The Prinzhorn collection in Heidelberg Germany. https://www.sammlung-prinzhorn.de/ https://www.sammlung-prinzhorn.de/

markhenderson 3y ago

Another similar artist that's still alive is Jon Sarkin [1] He has made over 10,000 pieces of outsider art usually drawn on the back of vinyl album covers. He has an archive of work online [2] and is active on instagram [3] [1] https://jonsarkin.com https://jonsarkin.com [2] https://archive.jonsarkin.com https://archive.jonsarkin.com [3] https://instagram.com/jonsarkin https://instagram.com/jonsarkin

kazinator 3y ago

The artwork comes across as Japanesque.

Cthulhu_ 3y ago
What even is "japanesque"? I don't believe that word has any meaning tbh.
- kazinator 3y ago
  Why would anyone harbor a belief that can easily be refuted by dictionaries? I don't get it. ELI5.
- bone_frequency 3y ago
  From the webster entry: -esque adjective suffix : in the manner or style of : like A very accesible blog post on how to use it: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/esque/ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/esque/

el_pollo_diablo 3y ago

I first learnt about Henry Darger in Olivia Laing's The Lonely City. It is a first-hand account of the psychological effects of loneliness and isolation. The author draws parallels between her own experience and that of other artists like Darger, and describes the way in which this experience can drive their creative process.

aworks 3y ago

The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art in Chicago is small but good. I found Darger's art there captivating and disturbing. https://www.art.org/henrydarger/ https://www.art.org/henrydarger/

JeremyNT 3y ago

Much more detail on wikipedia [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Darger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Darger

twinbees 3y ago

Also a song about him https://www.allmusic.com/song/henry-darger-mt0054857381 https://www.allmusic.com/song/henry-darger-mt0054857381

lvspiff 3y ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vXjwTux8T4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vXjwTux8T4 - my intro to Henry Darger which sent me down a rabbit hole on wikipedia

dfxm12 3y ago

“I figure that it’s better to be a sucker who makes something than a wise guy who is too cautious to make anything at all.” It very much frustrates me seeing professionals too timid to click through wizards on something as inconsequential as installing Word. "OK, it says click here to continue. Should I click there?" Even when mentoring new team members, I'm amazed at how afraid they might be to try something in a test environment where they know it doesn't matter if something goes wrong. Sometimes I think I've gotten as far as I have in life because I'm just not afraid to try, and I don't even think of myself as a risk taker. I don't care if you think of yourself as a sucker or as a wise guy. Just make the damn thing (even if you're making mistakes).