Horniman & Henry Darger

A little collage work and brief sketches of hands to further delve into what's possible with hand and face forms.

I revisited the Horniman Museum today, having in mind the historical and religious cultural artefacts, but ended up being very interested in their taxonomy displays and an exhibition of Yemeni culture too.

Thumbnails link to a 17-image set on Flickr. The modern Haitian Voudoo creations with doll faces stitched into them were particularly interesting. I learned a lot about the culture of Voudoo, and what it means to the people who still practice it.

An artist I looked into in depth a few modules ago in the course, resulting in this collaborative studio work, was Henry Darger. He was a peculiar recluse, and all of his work lay undiscovered until after his death. I think if he had showcased this strange work there would have been questions.

Darger worked by tracing from various books and photographs, colouring the lines formed from this in watercolour, bringing together wonderful epic scenes and magical landscapes. I find his work beautiful yet with a dark, surreal poigniancy. Because the images are coloured as one, the characters that are out of place in the landscapes are almost believeable. I enjoy the innoncence and naivety of the subject matter; it's a fresh medium in a simpler time. The idea of photomontage and juxtaposition is commonplace in today's illustration, but we certainly owe a lot to Darger for its development.