Contains interview video clips, commentary and visuals of Ansel Adams’ outstanding nature photography and source materials.

PART 1

Part 2 of this series will be published Wednesday.

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Adams always had a eye for the extra-ordinary in nature.  His photography of the Yosemite National Park and natural reserves in and around California is breathtaking. He received his first camera, a Kodak Brownie box camera, at age 16 on his first trip to Yosemite, an event which changed his life forever.

Moon and Half Dome, Yosem… Ansel Adams Buy From Art.com

It is also well-known that Ansel Adams was one fo the greatest environmentalists of the twentieth century. By exhibiting & publishing his art and writings, his presidency over the Sierra Club, Ansel Adams effectively advocated the preservation of America’s wilderness.

Ansel Adams Books

However, besides being a fantastic photographer and an environmentalist, Ansel Adams also was a great teacher of his art.   He did the whole gamet: wrote series of instructional books, taught photography workshops and college classes, and was involved in research. At first, Adams published essays in photography magazines. Then in 1935, he wrote his first instructional book ‘Making a photograph: An introduction to photography. ’. This is now a ‘rare’,photography ‘how to’- book.

Another well-known book by Ansel Adams is ‘The Camera‘. It is a photography classic, which is illustrated with some of the most welll-known photos by Adams.  A second book is called ‘The Print’. And a third instructional manual is called The Negative‘. These three books form the core of the legendary series of technical instructional manuals, first published by And Adams in the early 1950s.

Ansel Adams Workshops & Classes

In 1940 he began teaching a series of workshops, which then evolved into the annual photography workshops he led in Yosemite – Carmel from 1955 to1984.  He taught at the San Francisco Art Institute. There is well known for his work in codifying a method for negative and print exposure, called the Zone System. The zone system is still taught today at the institute and beyond, amongst others as the basis for intuitive photography.

Other Articles Relating to Ansel Adams

The Best of Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams: Art from His Secret Closet, ON EXHIBIT

Photography as Fine Art

Timeline of Art History ~ United States & Canada  ~ 1900 to present

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Today, 19 January, was Cézanne’s  birthday, so let’s bestow him with some honor….

Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) ~ Famous Works

In particular, let me show you a couple of Cézanne’s most famous paintings and why I include them here. There are several subjects (which Cézanne called ‘motifs’) that were most precious to him.  These are 1) still life paintings with apples (akin to Van Gogh’s obsession with sunflowers), 2) landscapes and  particularly those featuring Mont St Victoire, and 3) bathers.  I am showcasing an artwork for each motif.

1.

Apples and Oranges Paul C??zanne Buy this fine art print From Art.com

Arguably, Cezanne’s still life paintings are most appreciated by the public. This is possibly because Cezanne’s still lifes are not so still, and seem to be quite alife.

Though Cézanne painted still life compositions from the start of his career, it was only in later years that this genre began to occupy an essential place in his work. Apples and Oranges belongs to this period. This most famous artwork ‘Apples and Oranges’ is probably painted in the last 5 years of the 19th century, however, as the painting is not dated, none actually knows exactly when it was finished.

It forms part of a series of six still lifes produced in 1899 in Cézanne’s Parisian studio. Each painting features the same accessories: earthenware dishes and a jug decorated with a floral motif. Their arrangement is also similar, with a draped cloth, reminiscent of 17th century Flemish still lifes, closing the perspective. However, the dynamic effect created by a complex spatial construction and Cézanne’s subjective perception of the arranged objects illustrate his essentially pictorial approach. 

This artwork is currently in Musée d’Orsay in Paris, France. According to this prestigious art museum, Apples and Oranges, which combines modernity and sumptuous beauty, is the most important still life produced by Cézanne in the late 1890′s.

2. 

Mont Sainte-Victoire with Large Pine-… Paul C??zanne Buy this fine art print From Art.com

The painting motif which held his interest through his years in Aix-en-Provence was the mountain depicted here, Mont Sainte Victoire.  This lime stone mountain is not impressive by Alpine standards, but it dominated the landscape of his Provence in a noble and commanding manner.  As Cezanne grew up in Aix, he grew up with this mountain.  As an artist, it could be said that Cezanne studied Mont Sainte Victoire the way Monet studied his water lilly pond garden.

To Cézanne, the mountain was alive. Firm as a rock, however always changing. Either Cézanne changed his perspective of the mountain by focusing in on a particular part of it, or the light changed transforming the colors and energy the mountain transmitted. He painted Mont Sainte-Victoire a many a times in the late 1800′s and early 1900′s.

3.

Study of Bathers, circa 1895-98 Paul C??zanne Buy this Fine Art Print From Art.com

While I think that his fruit still lives and his landscape paintings outnumber his paintings of ‘bathers’, this painting could be called one of his most famous paintings. 

About Cezanne ~ a Role Model on How to Never Give, Even if you have “NO Talent’”

Paul Cézanne was born in Aix-en-Provence, France, on January 19, 1839.  He was raised in a well to do family and poised to become a lawyer. However, after initiating his law school, he confronted his father with his wish to become a painter in Paris instead. Eventually his father agreed to support him in his dream, however he already returned from Paris after 6 months, disillusioned with his own capacity to paint. He had destroyed many of early paintings.   A year later, he went to Paris to try again, however he failed the entrance exam for the Ecole des Beaux-Arts (the official Painting School in Paris).

It took him till he was 30 years old for his fate and self-confidence as an artist to start taking a more positive turn.  He changed subjects (moving from morbid blacks to more colorful landscapes), he met Hortense Fiquet, who became his girlfriend. 

Subsequently he had a son, moved to the countryside and met Pissarro, a fatherly figure to him, who became his mentor.

Interior of Cezanne’s Studio at Aix-E…   Buy From Art.com

Cezanne’s Influence on the Art of Painting

Paul Cézanne was a leading French Post-Impressionist. He bridged the way from 19th century Impressionism to a revolutionary new world of 20th century Cubism. Both Matisse and Picasso are quoted saying Cézanne was “the father of us all.”

Although his radical departures were underappreciated and even ridiculed in his time, Cézanne’s studies of visual perception, geometric simplification, and experimentation with complex fractured forms kept his style changing significantly over his lifetime. Cézanne was an eccentric, solitary enigma, often working in isolation, removed even from his own family.

More on Cezanne

http://eartfair.com/blog/the-other-museums-of-paris/

http://eartfair.com/blog/the-modern-art-movements/

references:  Musee d’Orsay, gardenofpraise.com/

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Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Spanish; School of Paris painter, sculptor, etcher, lithographer, ceramist and designer; influenced 20th century art enormously; worked in an unprecedented variety of styles.

Picasso’s art is categorized into periods. The most well-known periods in his work are the Blue Period, the Rose Period (1905–1907), the African-influenced Period (1908–1909), Analytic Cubism (1909–1912), and Synthetic Cubism (1912–1919). Names of many of his later periods are not as clearly defined.

The Years of Picasso’s Blue Period

The three years known as Pablo Picasso’s Blue Period was a time when a pale, cold blue was the dominant color in his paintings and drawings, and when the mood of his paintings, mostly paintings of poor people and sad-faced women, was very gloomy.

There were several factors that shaped Pablo Picasso’s paintings of that time.

First, the ‘Blue Period’ constituted some difficult, unsettling times for Picasso personally. It was the first time that Picasso was away from home, and he moved back and forth between Spain and France quite a bit.

In 1900, Picasso visited Paris, then the art capital of Europe, for the first time with his friend Carlos Casagemos. It was on the occasion of the Universal Exhibition, an exhibition which included one of Picasso’s paintings. Picasso lands a contract with the art dealers Pere Manach as well as sales and future exhibitions at the Berthe Weil gallery. In 1901 Picasso moved to Madrid, and makes a second trip to Paris, and has his first exhibition there in the Vollard Gallery. In 1902 he moves back to Barcelona and makes a third trip to Paris. In 1904 he finally settles in Paris, in Montmartre.

Second, the struggling young artist, Picasso, was so poor that he often did not have sufficient funds to pay rent or to buy art materials. Some of his paintings were made into firewood to keep his apartment warm.

Third, the period marks the death of his friend, Carlos Casagemas. Carlos had attempted to commit suicide because of a broken heart. The loss of his friend made a huge impression on him and brought on a period of depression for Picasso.

It was February 1901, while Picasso was in Madrid, when he received news of Casagemas’s suicide. In response he produced several intense paintings of his dead friend including the ‘Death of Casagemas’ (made in summer 1901) and a symbolically complex work, ‘Evocation: The Burial of Casagemas’ (later in 1901). This latter painting superimposed allusions to the art of the past and in particular to El Greco’s ‘Burial of Count’ Orgaz (1586–8).

Fourth, at that time, Pablo Picasso was a young artist, just in his early twenties. While he had starting painting at an supreme early age (3 years old), his early twenties was a time when Picasso was looking for a style of his own. He was very prolific at that time, painting and drawing at all times.

Fifth and finally: Picasso’s depicted melancholy was also a sign of the times. In the artistic cycles of Barcelona at that time, early death, suicide and doubt about one’s own calling were common.

Characteristics of Blue Period Paintings

During this time, Picasso’s paintings and sketches were mostly done in its melancholy palette of predominantly blue tones. The mood of his paintings and sketches during this period showed strong emotions.

In 1901, Toulouse Lautrac dies in Paris, and large individual exhibitions are dedicated to him the following year. In terms of style, young Picasso artist was following in the footsteps of Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas, and the 19th Century symbolists. Picasso explored actually all the avant-garde painting styles of that time, in an endeavor to find his own.

While monochromatic, these early paintings by Picasso are far from simple: they are layered and complex, typically rich with symbolic color, exaggerated form, and abstracted spaces.

Picasso’s Blue Period paintings borrowed El Greco’s elongated forms and hallucinatory spaces.

During his Blue Period, Picasso started to sign his works with “Picasso” instead of the prior “Pablo Ruiz y Picasso.”

Motifs in Picasso’s Blue Period

During the The Blue Period, Picasso focused almost exclusively on gloomy themes and the disenfranchised. His subjects included blind beggars, drunks, laborers and women from a prison in Paris. Most of his artworks were portraits. Perhaps no artist depicted the plight of the underclasses with greater poignancy than Picasso.

As Picasso lived himself in relative poverty in his early years in Paris, Picasso obviously empathized with the disenfranchised around him. He often portrayed them with great sensitivity and pathos.

Examples of Paintings of Picasso’s Blue Period

Excellent examples from the period depict include the Blue Nude (1902), The Tragedy (1903) and The Old Guitar Player (1903).

Child with a Dove, c.1901 Pablo Picasso Buy From Art.com

Picasso – Child with a Dove – Just Before the Blue Period

Picasso’s father bred doves. Many of Picasso’s childhood sketches included them. This work refer to memories of Picasso’s childhood, and in particular to his sister Conchita, who passed away in 1895 because of diphtheria. Picasso’s work took on a new maturity after her death. His sadness over the loss of his sister contributed to the melancholy in Picasso’s Blue Period. Picasso painted ‘Child Holding a Dove’ just prior to his ‘Blue Period’. The painting represents influences which marked his early work.

Blue Nude, c.1902 Pablo Picasso Buy From Art.com

Pablo Picasso – Blue Nude

The Blue Nude is currently in the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, Spain.

It depicts the back of a woman in fetal position. Her emotions are not clear.

The Old Guitarist, c.1903 Pablo Picasso Buy From Art.com

Pablo Picasso -The Old Guitarist

The painting, The Old Guitarist, is presently held at the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, US.

Pablo Picasso painted The Old Guitarist in 1903. The painting was made just after the suicide death of Picasso’s close friend, Casagemas.

This work was created in Madrid, and the distorted style (note that the upper torso of the guitarist seems to be reclining, while the bottom half appears to be sitting cross-legged) is reminiscent of the works of El Greco.

The hidden secret
The painting ‘The Old Guitarist’ is known for a ghost-like appearance of a mysteriously faced a women painted underneath. (Her face is above the old man’s neck). As Picasso was strapped for cash to buy art materials, it is likely that Picasso reused materials. Most likely, he originally started painting a portrait of a seated, upset woman. Only her face and legs are visible.

The Tragedy, 1903 Pablo Picasso Buy From Art.com

Pablo Picasso – The Tragedy

‘The Tragedy’ (1903) can be found by the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., US.

The painting depicts three figures, one presumes a family, wife to left, husband center and boy of perhaps five years of age left, stand barefoot on a beach, a greenishblue beach in front of a pale blue sea and a darkened dusky sky blue. The man and woman have their heads bowed down. The boy is clapping his hands for heat. The husband looks old.

There is something between that they must say but can’t say and they acknowledge that they can’t say it. Someone or something is missing. A home? A person? Sustenance? There is a space between them they know not how to fill.

La Vie, 1903 Pablo Picasso Buy From Art.com

Pablo Picasso – La Vie

La Vie, 1903. This painting marks the peak of Picasso’s Blue Period, and at the same time it represents the sum-total of this period. It is amongst his most famous paintings of this period.

This Picasso painting is currently in the Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio, US.

As you can see here, it depicts an Eden-ish couple standing to the left. The nude woman in the moment after a shock, just in the beginning of absorbing it, cradling her head on the man’s shoulder. The blue loin-clothed man is painted in a classical pose with his finger pointing towards a mother on the right, who is holding an infant swaddled in a blanket. The mother looking somber, severe, fearful, angry, tired ….

In between the couple on the left and the mother with child on the right, there are two blue outlined silhouettes. In a slightly lighter shade of blue, a man consoling a woman, beneath them, a figure cradling head on knees, either weeping in torment, asleep or dead. It is as if the man is asking the mother what will become of her child, and in the space between, where one might expect find hope, instead there is desolation or, at best, mutual consolation.

There is no simple explanation to this painting, although many stories could be told based on this work. ‘La Vie’ is really a complex Symbolist allegory that evolved through numerous sketches. As X-rays analysis revealed that ‘La Vie’ is painted over ‘Last Moments’ and that it underwent several revisions. Its synthesis and layering of references rule out a fixed reading.

Autobiography is embedded in the male figure, which was begun as a self-portrait but later given the features of Casagemas. The iconically stiff composition, compressed space and enigmatic gestures, however, evoke a more general significance.

Conclusion

“Expression: Whenever I have had something to say, I have said it in the manner I felt I ought to say it. Different motives inevitably require different methods of expression.” ~ Picasso

At the young age of 20, Picasso already realized a distinct style of art that is all of his own, despite his borrowing from various other artists and artistic movements and styles.

Picasso’s Blue Period was followed by Picasso’s Rose Period, which began in October 1904, following an exhibition of Picasso’s work at the Berthe Weill gallery of 12 works from the previous three years. His was favorably reviewed.

Both the Blue and the Rose periods were precursors to Cubism, which later defined much of Picasso’s career.

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Van Gogh as Prolific Painter

Even though Van Gogh was only active as a painter for a decade, today he is one of the most famous artists. In that decade that Van Gogh was a painter, i.e. 1880-1890, he was an extra-ordinarily prolific artist. As well, he rapidly developed from novice to master artist.

Of the works Van Gogh created, 860 paintings, almost 1200 works on paper have been preserved. The vast majority, i.e. 201 paintings and 437 drawings, sketches and watercolors and 31 prints, can be found in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

Almond Branches in Bloom, San Remy, c… Vincent van Gogh Buy From Art.com

“Drawing is the root of everything” ~ Vincent Van Gogh

Most of the drawings and prints are not on permanent display for preservation reasons: they are too sensitive to light and too valuable to be deteriorating. Special exhibitions to see those rare works are however organized from time to time, like in 2007, to celebrate the publication of new catalogs of Van Gogh’s drawings.

Van Gogh Museum Charter

It is the charter of the Van Gogh Museum to offer an elaborate overview of the art by Vincent Van Gogh. The Van Gogh Museum is also able to place Vincent’s art in historic and artistic perspective, as the art museum holds an extensive collection of artwork by other 19th century painters and sculptures.

Specifically, the museum presents a broad range of paintings, graphic art and sculpture form the period 1840-1920, including displays of Realism, Impressionism, and Post-impressionism, Salon and Symbolist Art. Many of these works were made by artists who Van Gogh admired, including progressive painters like Paul Gauguin and Georges Seurat, but also traditional painters like Ary Scheffer. The collection is still growing and many additional works of art have been purchased, donated or loaned to the museum in recent years.

Given that the Van Gogh museum hold the largest collection of his works, it is a very popular art destination. In 2008, the Van Gogh museum had almost 1.5 million visitors.

Dedication to Research of Van Gogh, his Art, his Time

Part of the top floor of the museum is dedicated to Van Gogh research. There are reference materials in its library that can not be found elsewhere. There are over 24,000 books on Van Gogh and other 19th-century artists.

The Evolution of the Van Gogh Museum’s Collection

During his career, Vincent Van Gogh had to rely on his brother, Theo, for financial support. Theo was an art dealer who valued Vincent’s work. Therefore, upon Van Gogh’s death in 1980, Theo owned most of Vincent’s work. Theo died just half a year later, so that his wife, Johanna Van Gogh and subsequently, her son Vincent Willem van Gogh, obtained stewardship of the collection. Johanna is the person who invested significant time to put together the Van Gogh letters for publication.*

Van Gogh’s Chair Vincent Van Gogh

In 1962, all works then owned by the Van Gogh family were bought by the Vincent Van Gogh Foundation. with the funds of the Dutch government supplied the funds for the art acquisition and for the design and construction of the museum building. The museum itself is a work of art in its own right and is designed by architect / designer Gerrit Rietveld. The museum first opened in 1973.

Other Museums Holding Van Gogh Art Collections

Other good collections of Vincent Van Gogh art can be found in two other European museums. The first is the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, The Netherlands. This wonderful museum set in a forest holds a large collection of excellent works of art by Van Gogh. The third-best location to see a good collection of Van Gogh’s artwork would be the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, France. The remainder of Van Gogh’s art is spread over many museums and private collections held in The Netherlands, US, Japan and elsewhere.

Footnote

* Vincent van Gogh was a great and continuous letter writer, writing mostly to his beloved brother, Theo. In over 800 letters, he set out his thoughts and ideas. He discussed his views on the art of his contemporaries, such as Emile Bernard and Paul Gauguin. The vast majority of these letters are being kept in the Van Gogh Museum. Collectively they form an unusually detailed source of insights and factual information about the work and life of Vincent Van Gogh.

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Van Gogh’s Chair, c.1888 Vincent van Gogh Buy From Art.com Van Gogh Self-Portrait, 1888 Vincent van Gogh Buy From Art.com The Red Vineyard at Arles, c.1888 Vincent van Gogh Buy From Art.com Starry Night, c.1889 Vincent van Gogh Buy From Art.com Irises, Saint-Remy, c.1889 Vincent van Gogh Buy From Art.com Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saints-… Vincent van Gogh Buy From Art.com Olive Trees, c.1889 Vincent van Gogh Buy From Art.com Mulberry Tree, c.1889 Vincent van Gogh Buy From Art.com Wheatfield with Crows, c.1890 Vincent van Gogh Buy From Art.com Sunflowers, c.1888 Vincent van Gogh Buy From Art.com A Vase of Roses, c.1890 Vincent van Gogh Buy From Art.com Vase with Twelve Sunflowe… Vincent van Gogh Buy From Art.com Church at Auvers, c.1890 Vincent van Gogh Buy From Art.com Wheatfield with Cypresses, c.1889 Vincent van Gogh Buy From Art.com The Sower, c.1888 Vincent van Gogh Buy From Art.com Vase with Daisies and Pop… Vincent van Gogh Buy From Art.com Starry Night over the Rhone, c.1888 Vincent van Gogh Buy From Art.com Houses at Auvers, c.1890 Vincent van Gogh Buy From Art.com The Night Cafe in the Place Lamartine… Vincent van Gogh Buy From Art.com Landscape with Olive Trees Vincent van Gogh Buy From Art.com Vineyards at Auvers, c.1890 Vincent van Gogh Buy From Art.com Field of Poppies, Auvers-Sur-Oise, c…. Vincent van Gogh Buy From Art.com

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Wyeth has become one of America’s most famous painters thanks to his idyllic way of paintings his surroundings: the landscapes, farms, tree lands, farm houses, and neighbors in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.

What strikes me most about the news of Andrew Wyeth is the way he died. It had the same idyllic poetry with which he painted. Who would not like to die of old age, without too much pain, sleeping, surrounded by loved ones?

Art is life and life is art – at least for Andrew Wyeth it was.

To commemorate the American realist painter, I would like to mention 5 highlights of Andrew Wyeth’s art career:

1. While the rest of the art world explored ‘Abstract Expressionism‘, Wyett did his own thing, i.e. realism. Specifically, he painted his world his way. And he became most famous it. Some art critiques call him ‘an icon of Americana’. Well, actually Wyeth did represent post-war America’s nostalgic yearning for a return to what had been normalcy. Does that make him less of an artist? He was no more or no less a sign of his time than self-managed contemporary British artist Damien Hirst, or was he?

2. Wyeth received many awards during his lifetime including some prestigious ones, such as: being the first artist to receive President Kennedy’s “Presidential Freedom Award” America’s highest civil award (’63). Also, Andrew Wyeth had been the first living artist to have had an exhibition at the White House (’70). He was the recipient of the National Institute for Art & Letters’ Gold metal for Painting (’65). And when the Helga pictures came out, he had been one of the few single artists to have been hailed as a creator of ‘a national treasure’ and to receive a coast-to-coast solo exhibition tour from the National Gallery of Art.

Christina’s World Andrew Wyeth

3. His painting of a young woman in a field, ‘Christina’s World’ (1948) became one of the best known paintings in America. It is his most famous single artwork. The painting is one of the most popular works on view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

‘Christina’s World’ is made in tempera. Wyeth started his art career in watercolors and dry brush, and then moved to egg tempera, which became ‘his’ medium. The tempura allowed him to achieve his superb textural effects.

The story behind ‘Christina’s World’, as MoMA explains it, is this:

“The woman crawling through the tawny grass was the artist’s neighbor in Maine, who, crippled by polio, “was limited physically but by no means spiritually.”

Wyeth further explained, “The challenge to me was to do justice to her extraordinary conquest of a life which most people would consider hopeless.” He recorded the arid landscape, rural house, and shacks with great detail, painting minute blades of grass, individual strands of hair, and nuances of light and shadow.

In this style of painting, known as magic realism, everyday scenes are imbued with poetic mystery.”

4. Andrew Wyeth managed to surprise the public once again in ’86 with ‘The Helga Pictures’ ~ a large collection of paintings featuring a single subject, i.e. a neighbor by the name of Helga Testorf. The collection of 240+ individual works went beyond tempura and includes dry brush paintings, watercolors and pencil studies. It had been created over a span of fifteen years (’71-’85). Andrew Wyeth created these artworks without telling a single person, including his wife, for over a decade.

The entire collection was said to be sold for $40 million in ’86 to publisher Leonard E. B. Andrews, complete with copyright to the artwork and all. Leonard Andrews agreed to keep the collection together and offer public access. Washington’s National Gallery of Art organized a tour from America’s coast-to-coast during ’87-’89. 10 months after the tour, 200 or so of The Helga Pictures were sold for $50 million to an unidentified Japanese industrialist, who has continued public access to the works through exhibitions.

Watercolor Artist – $ 19.96 Features practical, step-by-step instruction & illustrations for watercolor painting. Plus, each issue introduces new artists, answers specific readers’ questions.

I’m not getting into the scandals and speculations about The Helga Pictures. Truth is, they are skillful executions and it’s unique for a single subject to be painted over and over again during decades. I’m not sure if prolific artist Picasso matches the number of paintings of ‘Dora Maar’, but knowing Picasso: he would not like to be compared.

Where to see AndrewWyeth

Brandywine museum, Chadds Ford, PA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

© copyright 2009 A. Lee, eArtfair.com – all rights reserved.

Contemporary Art :: Fine Art :: Top Artists :: Art Reviews, Art Fairs & Exhibitions. Copyright , e ART FAIR .com, All Rights Reserved.

This first part of the article includes a detailed biography of Henry Darger and a description of his Outsider Art making methods.

Here are the remainder of the video clips. At the end of the article, after the clips I’ll tell you where to go see the works by Henry Darger and give you some recommendations for further reading on Henry Darger.

** BLOG UPDATE: Due to a copyright dispute, the youtube videos “In the Realms of the Unreal (Outsider Art by Henry Darger) Part 7-12″ had to be removed. **

Where to See the Works by Henry Darger

The best place to see Darger’s work has to be the Henry Darger Studio Center at the American Folk Art Museum in New York City. This center was established by the museum in 2000. It houses all four manuscripts and over 24 paintings, plus approximately 3,000 items from Darger’s archive of ephemera and source material. This comprehensive collection is one of a kind in the world of the art of the self-taught and is the largest public collection of works by Darger.

However, Darger’s work is also included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Collection de l’Art Brut, Lausanne; the New Orleans Museum of Art; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; and the Milwaukee Art Museum. Furthermore, specialist outsider art galleries feature his work. I’m sure there will be some references to his work by them this weekend at the Outsider Art Fair in New York City.

Highly Recommended Further Reading on Henry Darger

Henry Darger: In the Realms of the Unreal Essential, remarkable Book. Like a detective, “MacGregor makes Henry Darger real : as a deeply damaged child and adult, as a tormented believer in God, as a person of enormous inner resources, and as a creative genius.”

Henry Darger: Art and Selected Writings By Michael Bonesteel Said to be the most-comprehensive reference; pricey, but worth it.

Darger: The Henry Darger Collection at the American Folk Art Museum

How to Look at Outsider Art

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