Darger Enters MoMA

Carol Vogel explains that MoMA’s Klaus Biesenbach had an important role in the museums’s just-announced acquisition of 13 double-sided works by Henry Darger from the artist’s estate:

Unrecognized in his lifetime, Darger, who died in 1973, tended to use popular images from comics and magazines and materials photographically manipulated at his local drugstore. “Darger was one of those standout, self-taught artists who has had an enormous influence on many generations of younger artists,” said Connie Butler, MoMA’s chief curator of drawings. “And we have had a long history of collecting so-called outsider material, which is a lesser-known piece of MoMA’s history.”

While the American Folk Art Museum has significant holdings by Darger, this gift, from the artist’s estate, is MoMA’s largest acquisition of work by an outsider artist.

MoMA Acquires More Dargers (NYTimes)