ART AND IMAGES IN PSYCHIATRY In the Realms of the Unreal Henry Darger

James C. Harris, MD

[C]hild slavery existed in Calverinian country. Hundreds of The war lasted 4 years and 7 months and follows a sequence thousands of children, torn from their parents, were thrown into of events similar to World War I and incorporated certain horrible factories, made to work for themselves to death without aspects of the American Civil War into the narrative. His getting a cent, and horrors upon horrors almost equaled that of heroines are the 7 Vivian princesses (Violet, Jenny, Joice, perdition [eternal damnation]. Catherine, Hettie, Daisy, Evangeline, and Gertrude Angeline, 1(p40) Henry Darger, In the Realms of the Unreal their adoptive sister) who lead the uprising against the slave Do you believe it, unlike most children, I hated to see the day come holders. when I will be grown up. I never wanted to. I wished to be young The 7 brave Vivian girls, princesses of Abbiennia, are mod- always. I am a grown up now and an old lame man, darn it. eled after Joan of Arc; their mission is to free the child slaves. Henry Darger, The History of My Life1(p7) This involves them in many life-threatening episodes. Darger, a deeply religious man, wrote that “They fought…as if In 1973, when 80-year-old Henry Darger, a retired jani- not only led by the spirit of the Maid of Orleans but by Christ.”1 tor and dishwasher, was too frail to climb the stairs to his third Like Joan of Arc, the Vivian girls are innocent and saintly. Tragi- floor apartment at 851 Webster Avenue in Lincoln Park, he cally, when their army of prepubescent fighting girl soldiers asked his landlord Nathan Lerner for help in moving into an lose in battle, they are rounded up by the enemy and tor- old age home. Darger had lived in his Chicago apartment for tured. They are strangled, hanged at the gallows, or dismem- 40 years, and it was filled with his accumulated possessions. bered as they call out in pain and terror. In the battle scene de- Lerner asked Darger what to do with everything in his apart- picted in the figure,3 the prepubescent band of girl warriors is ment and was told, “It’s all yours.”1(p15) When Lerner exam- in the midst of retreat during a violent storm. Some of girl sol- ined Darger’s abandoned apartment, he found a treasure trove! diers are running away, while others, armed with rifles, stand The shy reclusive hospital janitor had lived a secret life as a to fight. Darger captures the emotions of some of the children visual artist and a writer of epics.2 during the battle scene: one child standing in the center is pre- Darger’s small, cluttered, 1.5-room apartment was filled occupied, another in front is tearful, a dark-haired girls dis- with stacks of newspapers and magazines that rose to the ceil- tracts herself by looking at a purple flower, another child looks ing, leaving only a narrow path to the oval table where he out blankly or perhaps thoughtfully at the ongoing battle, and worked. One entire wall was covered with a titled another girl looks warmly up toward one her companions. Just The Battle of Calverhine (first epigraph) containing hundreds as Joan of Arc cut her hair and dressed as a man in battle,4 the of images. Among the debris were found 7 huge handbound girl warriors convey elements of both femaleness and male- volumes of typed pages of narrative and a dozen more un- ness. The naked girls all have prepubescent male genitals.4 bound bundles of typed and handwritten pages in a nearby Darger’s long narrative focuses on the atrocity of child trunk. Lerner had discovered Darger’s masterpiece, an illus- slavery, abuse, and murder. The Realms of the Unreal appar- trated book more than 15 000 typed pages long with approxi- ently is Darger’s creative way of working through aspects of mately 300 images. Darger titled it The Story of the Vivian Girls, his own traumatic early life experiences and his continuing in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco- concerns about wartime and other atrocities that occurred Angelinian War Storm Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion (here- during his lifetime. Darger was a solitary, deeply religious, after referred to as The Realms of the Unreal). In addition, he and inventive man who worked as a janitor by day and wrote found the 8500-page handwritten sequel, Adventures in Chi- and illustrated his writings at night. His neighbors (who saw cago, and Darger’s 5084-page autobiography. him as reclusive and odd) often heard him carrying out The Realms of the Unreal is filled with colorful land- imaginary dialogues with his characters.1 He had one close scapes, fantastic creatures, and epic battle scenes between friend in his early years, Whilliam Schloeder, who joined opposing forces of good and evil on an imaginary planet.1,2 with him in establishing the 2-man Gemini Society for the After writing the text (completed in the 1930s), Darger illus- protection of children. trated it. The action takes place on an imaginary planet that Writing and art making allowed Darger the means to is “1000 times as large as our own world and with our earth express his views on issues that concerned him, including as its moon.”1 The Catholic Nations (Abbieannia, Angelinia, injustices against children, the importance of protecting child- Abyssinkile, Protestentia, and Calverinia) and the protective hood innocence, and his relationship with God. Darger’s Blengiglomenean Serpents are in a war against the Glan- question to God about why God allowed children to suffer delinians, fallen Catholics who enslave and torture children. remained unanswered.

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Henry Darger (1892-1973), American. Realms of the Unreal. “6 Episode 3 Place carbon tracing on pieced paper, 61.0 × 189.9 cm (24 × 743/4 in). Collection not mentioned. Escape during violent storm, still fighting though persed [sic] , New York, NY. Gift of Nathan and Kiyoko Lerner. for long distance” (detail). Chicago, , 1950-1970. Watercolor, pencil, and © Kiyoko Lerner, 1995.23la. Photograph by Gavin Ashworth.

Darger’s mother died giving birth to his sister shortly be- noticed and had limited social contacts with neighbors, fore his fourth birthday. His newborn sister was adopted. At despite living in the same rooming house for 40 years. 8 years of age, he was placed in the Mission of Our Lady of Darger hung a large painted collage of the Vivian prin- Mercy Boys Home when his father could no longer care for him. cesses above the door of his large room. He wrote: “It has been Although a good student, he was aggressive and was caught a great comfort to me to sit and watch the Vivian Girl Prin- attacking a female student and a teacher. And he made strange cesses…. Their graceful ways, their unusual manners, their noises that annoyed his teachers, who were nuns. At 12 years beauty and strangeness, have helped me to understand the of age, he was sent to the Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children mystery in little girls which all the books about them cannot in Lincoln, Illinois. His admissions interview at the time re- make clear…. They did love me and I love them.”8(p87) vealed a history of self-abuse (masturbation) since the age of Norman Lerner preserved Darger’s legacy by facilitating mu- 6 years.5 Masturbation was considered a serious problem in seum exhibitions. He placed this epitaph on Henry’s tombstone: an era when excessive masturbation was believed to lead to Henry Darger 1892-1973, Artist, Protector of Children. Darger's insanity and feeblemindedness.6,7 His masturbating was an im- Realms of the Unreal is an exercise in active imagination seek- portant factor in his admission to the asylum in Lincoln. Darger ing to find personal meaning in a world rife with injustice. spent the next 4 years at this institution. The institution served 1. Bonesteel M. Henry Darger: Art and Selected Writings. New York, NY: Rizzoli as a work farm; the children worked without pay and re- International Publications Inc; 2000. ceived severe punishments if they rebelled. Thus, he learned 2. MacGregor JM. Henry Darger: In the Realms of the Unreal. New York, NY: to be compliant and to avoid contact with people in author- Delano Greenridge Editions; 2002. ity. The conditions at the asylum led to scandal. A child was 3. Thevoz M. Darger: The Henry Darger Collection at the American Folk Art found ravaged by rats, and another was burned and, when left Museum. Sweeney CG, trans. New York, NY: Henry N. Abrams, Inc; 2001. unattended, died. Darger escaped by hopping a train to De- 4. Harris JC. Joan of Arc. JAMA Psychiatry. 2013;70(1):6-7. catur, Illinois, and walking to Chicago. His godmother found 5. Moon M. Darger’s Resources. Durham, NC: Duke University Press; 2012. him a job in a hospital, and he never returned to the asylum. 6. Hare EH. Masturbatory insanity: the history of an idea. J Ment Sci. Henry worked as an employee for various Catholic insti- 1962;108:1-25. tutions for the rest of his life. He composed the images for 7. Gilbert AN. Masturbation and insanity: Henry Maudsley and the ideology of The Realms of the Unread by cutting out newspaper and maga- sexual repression. Albion. 1980;12(3):268-282. zine photographs of children for his and collecting 8. Lerner K, MacGregor JM. Henry Darger's Room: 851 Webster. Tokyo, Japan: Imperial Press; 2007. storybooks and coloring books depicting children who be- came models for his characters. His draftsmanship was poor, so he traced images for his art. Major sources included Frank Author Affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Developmental Neuropsychiatry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baum’s Oz books, Little Annie Rooney, Shirley Temple films, Baltimore, Maryland. Charles Dickens books, Catholic prayers books, pulp fiction, Corresponding Author: James C. Harris, MD, Department of Psychiatry and and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin for its depic- Behavioral Sciences, Developmental Neuropsychiatry, Johns Hopkins University tion of slavery. He seems to have maintained the mind-set of School of Medicine, 1800 Orleans St, Baltimore, MD 21287 ([email protected]). someone who has been institutionalized. Demonstrating a Section Editor: James C. Harris, MD. childlike simplicity (second epigraph), he sought not to be Conflict of Interest Disclosures: None reported.

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