Henry J. Darger

Dans les Royaumes de l'Irreel

In the Realms of the Unreal

John MacGregor text in French

 

Collection de l'art brut. Foundazione Galleria Gottardo Lusanne, Switzerland. 1996. First edition. Hardcover. No dust jacket as issued. 112 unpaginated pages. Sewn bound. John MacGregor text in French with some of the preliminary text also supplied in English. Very good.

Offset-printed monograph on the work of Henry Darger. Illustated with 26 black and white images and 30 color plates.

Henry Darger, Dans les Royaumes de l'Irreel, is a generously illustrated book that represents the culmination of more than a decade of research into the enigmatic artist's life and work by world renowned outsider art expert John MacGregor. The long awaited monograph is the most comprehensive critical investigation of Darger's writings and illustrations available; this edition is in French with some English.

Henry Darger was born in Chicago in 1892. Shortly before his death in 1973, his landlord, Chicago artist Nathan Lerner, made a startling discovery in his tenant's room: the history of another world in fifteen volumes, possibly the longest work of fiction ever written. In startlingly vivid detail, Darger recounted the role of seven sisters, known as the Vivian Girls, in a violent conflict over child enslavement on an unnamed planet. Amidst the refuse, Lerner also found three huge bound volumes of brightly colored illustrations for the work, many painted on both sides and some over twelve feet in length. In the decades since his death, Darger's alternate universe has attracted the intense interest of collectors, critics, and scholars around the world. His illustrations and writings have been the subject of major museum exhibitions in Europe and North America.

Very good. Light wear to the boards. Internally, the text is clean and unmarked. Beautiful clean illustrations. Tight binding.