The art of Henry Darger; an examination of his paintings at the Irish Museum of Modern Art

Helen Bermingham
Trinity College Dublin
Department of History of Art and Architecture
2005
MA

Subject: Painting and Drawing
Country: America and Ireland (IMMA collection)
Period: 20th Century

This dissertation outlines the life of Henry Darger and analyses those of his works that are held by the Irish Museum of Modern Art. The issue of his labelling as an outsider artist is dealt with and a conscious stance is taken to discuss his work in a manner independent of this label.The work ‘At Jennie Richee pursued by the fury of the long tropical thunderstorm they get lost in volcanic cavern’ is analysed in terms of the artist’s processes of depiction and the gender issues in the painting. Darger’s creation of imaginary creatures (the Blenglinomenians), their possible sources and their execution are discussed as is the relationship of Darger’s pictorially depicted imaginations to his novel ‘In the realms of the unreal.’ Darger’s remaining paintings in the IMMA collection are analysed in relation to his novel and his other paintings.

Irish Georgian Society

Education Theses Register

The art of Henry Darger; an examination of his paintings at the Irish Museum of Modern Art