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Trope Collaborative
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Henry Darger

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Opportunity

Intuit, founded in 1991 to celebrate the power of outsider art has become one of the leading institutions that curates, exhibits and promotes outsider art in the world. Henry Darger's work is core to their collection.

He was a janitor at a local catholic hospital in Chicago, and led a quiet existence as an outsider artist. He used found images from newspapers and books and deployed tracings to create a multi volume fantasy story about the Vivian Girls. Darger's landlords, Nathan and Kiyoko Lerner, discovered his work shortly before his death and shepherded his work to Intuit. Trope Collaborative was approached to create a catalog of Darger's work in their collection edited by Leisa Rundquist, associate professor at the University of North Carolina has focused on marginalized artists and their artistic practices.
Darger Himself Henry Darger was a personal enigma and would have been forgotten if not for Kiyoko and Nathan Lerner, who was his landlord.

Darger Himself
Henry Darger was a personal enigma and would have been forgotten if not for Kiyoko and Nathan Lerner, who was his landlord.

Studio Darger lived in at 851 W. Webster Avenue in a one room apartment for 40 years that was crammed with his make believe worlds.

Studio
Darger lived in at 851 W. Webster Avenue in a one room apartment for 40 years that was crammed with his make believe worlds.

Catalog Logotype Trope Collaborative created a logotype that put the title in between the key words of the catalog.

Catalog Logotype
Trope Collaborative created a logotype that put the title in between the key words of the catalog.

Compilation Cover Cover of the Henry Darger compilation for Intuit.

Compilation Cover
Cover of the Henry Darger compilation for Intuit.

Vivian Girls Introduction Introducing the seven Vivian Girls and a positioning statement was important to ground viewers who are unfamiliar with Darger's world.

Vivian Girls Introduction
Introducing the seven Vivian Girls and a positioning statement was important to ground viewers who are unfamiliar with Darger's world.

Tracings and Process Darger used tracings to create augmented imagery for his make believe world of Vivian Girls. Many interpretations have been given for his obsessions.

Tracings and Process
Darger used tracings to create augmented imagery for his make believe world of Vivian Girls. Many interpretations have been given for his obsessions.

Design Process Example This is an example of how Trope Collaborative took individual detail images and stitched them together to create a larger image of works that were conceived as a whole.

Design Process Example
This is an example of how Trope Collaborative took individual detail images and stitched them together to create a larger image of works that were conceived as a whole.

Inspirations Darger was obsessed with stars of his day and Shirley Temple epitomized female heroes of the time.

Inspirations
Darger was obsessed with stars of his day and Shirley Temple epitomized female heroes of the time.

Methods & Practices

Trope Collaborative worked closely with Intuit curators on the structure of the catalog. There were many images that documented fragments of larger compositions. After some analysis, the images were grouped together into specific image compositions. They were then stitched together with clear spaces between them to show how each image created a larger composition. This allowed for the details to be central, but to understand that they were part of a larger whole.

Impact & Outcome

A 28 page catalog was created that integrated textual and artifacts together to highlight the diversity of Darger's work and the process he used to create vibrant works. Key passages were highlighted creating a hierarchy of content for skimming or detailed reading. Special fractional ligatures needed to be created for artifact measurements. The catalog had spot gloss varnishes to protect and increase color saturation.