Intuit Art Museum in West Town is showcasing a new temporary exhibition, ‘Cutting and Pasting a World: The Paper Craft of Henry Darger,’ which explores the practice of the late Chicago creator and his famous paper dolls.
Henry Darger’s Artistic Evolution
The exhibition draws on research by guest curator Mary Trent and features animations of Darger’s artwork as adapted by local motion designer Warren Rudd. The showcase connects Darger’s creative practices to a popular pastime from the turn of the 20th century: using paper and textiles to craft two-dimensional environments for paper dolls.
Darger, a self-taught artist, lived a reclusive life in Chicago and is widely seen as one of the world’s most famous self-taught creators. His art serves in part to illustrate his novels, including ‘The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion.’
The exhibition is part of a larger nationwide initiative, ‘Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026,’ organized by Craft in America, a nonprofit arts organization. The exhibit runs through January 2027 at Intuit Art Museum, located at 756 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Original reporting: Block Club Chicago — read the source article.
