I knew Henry Darger, the reclusive outsider artist. He was my neighbor. He lived down the hall
from my ex-husband David Berglund and me and we shared a bathroom!
David and I lived in a three room apartment on the second floor of the building at 851 W. Webster Avenue in Chicago and Henry lived in a room at the end of the hall. We were neighbors from March 1969 until November 1972, a few months before his death. Henry was a legacy tenant from the 1930’s when 851 Webster had been a rooming house.
We didn’t know Henry was an artist, nor did our landlord and
landlady, Nathan and Kyoko Lerner, nor did any of the other tenants in our
building. Henry’s work was discovered after he died: over 15,000 pages of a
fantasy novel illustrated by hundreds of water color paintings and a large
number of 30 foot wide murals. Henry Darger’s work is exhibited all over the
world and has been valued in the millions of dollars.
In 1971, David took this photograph, the only one of Henry
Darger in his later years. As he often did, Henry was sitting on the front
steps of our Webster Avenue home. You will find this photograph in most
publications about Henry Darger. You will also find my formerly married name
Betsy Berglund and David’s name in books and articles about Henry. We were sometimes
interviewed about our interactions with Henry when he was our neighbor. David died a few years ago, but I am still
asked about Henry by authors and film producers now and then.
David and I were hippy-want-to-be’s. We went camping
frequently. We didn’t mind sharing the bathroom and we didn’t mind going out of
our apartment to get to the bathroom. It
was an unconventional arrangement but we wanted to be, we hoped we were, an
unconventional couple.
Henry had his own sink and he
must have washed up there because to the best of our knowledge, he didn’t take
baths or showers. So we rarely had to negotiate who would use the bathroom at
any given time.
There was one time, however, when Dave gave Henry a bath. It
happened when Henry was sick and very frail, shortly before he had to be moved to
the Saint Augustine's Catholic Mission home in Chicago.
Quickly while Dave bathed Henry, I took his clothes and bed
sheets to the laundromat down the street and washed them. His clothes had layers of dirt on them and
the bed sheets were gray from ground in dirt. The primitive tent-camper in me
was able to handle the grime – though his clothes were much dirtier than our
clothes when we would return from a week of back-packing and camping.
During this time Henry stayed most of the day in bed. Daily I
took him breakfast, toast with butter and jelly. I crossed his room to get to
the bed, past piles of stuff. Papers and magazines and unidentifiable clutter were
piled high on the big oval table in the center of the room, and were stuffed
into cabinets and bookcases and were lying on the floor and in the closet. The
room, like Henry, looked very dirty and uncared for. The walls were gray from years of neglect;
the piles were dusty and disorganized and looked like they hadn’t been touched
in years. Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art in Chicago has recreated
what they call the “Henry Darger Room.” See photos and more information at https://www.art.org/henry-darger-room-collection/ The Intuit room is clean and the “clutter”
while coming from Henry’s room on Webster Avenue, has been artfully
arranged. It is very different from the
real Henry Darger room that I saw when he lived in it.
Henry’s door was often open and we could hear him talking to
himself. Once or twice I heard two distinct voices. Henry’s regular old man
voice, soft and unassuming, was answered by a higher pitched child-like voice.
The conversations were muted and I couldn’t catch the content, but Henry’s
voice seemed contrite in response to the other voice which was strong and
aggressive and seemed to be scolding Henry.
Before Henry got sick and we got personally involved with
him, Dave and I would sometimes peek into his room. We were put off by the papers
and stuff piled up and the dirt and by our sense that we were trespassing. Perhaps a tenant in our building, or maybe a
visitor, must have gone into the room and looked closely at the few of Henry’s
drawings that were hung on the walls. I don’t remember who told us, but someone
reported that Henry had "dirty" (obscene) hand drawn pictures in his room. Later after Henry
Darger’s work was discovered and studied and displayed, all could see that the
little girls in a number of his drawing and paintings were nude and had penises. Our thought at the time was that Henry was
strange and these particular pictures were harmless and strange, just like Henry.
Henry came into our apartment only once, on Christmas day 1971. Though we were Jewish, our custom was to have
dinner with my parents on Christmas day and that year, Dave invited Henry to join
us. A Valentine card addressed to David was
found among Henry’s treasures and odds and ends. Included with the card was a hand-written note from Henry "For Christmas presents I would like what I need most... ivory soap... shaving cream... and something to eat Christmas afternoon chicken no turkey I hate it." Henry joined us for our "Christmas dinner." He
came on time, sat with us at the table and ate what we served. I hope we didn't serve turkey! He didn’t engage in conversation with Dave or
me or my parents. After dinner, he
quietly and quickly left and went back to his room.
I end with a picture of the hippy want-to-be's David and Betsy Berglund in our Webster Avenue living room. Behind us is a white blow-up couch and to the left of David is a black bean bag chair. The doorway behind Dave led to our walk-through closet and gave us access to the kitchen and bedroom. Not pictured but to the right of me was the door to the hallway which gave us access to the shared bathroom.
For more information about Henry Darger and his paintings and writings, refer to the many websites that describe his work in detail.
I recommend two books that discuss Henry Darger's life and attempt to give the reader perspectives on Henry's very difficult upbringing, his high intelligence, his limited socialization skills and how these and other factors affected Henry's life and art. Each author has his/her own theories which you the reader can accept or not.
The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone by Olivia Laing, specifically the chapter "In the Realms of the Unreal" about Henry Darger and his upbringing and his solitary life in Chicago.
Henry Darger, Throwaway Boy: The Tragic Life of an Outsider Artist by Jim Elledge
For more information about Henry Darger and his paintings and writings, refer to the many websites that describe his work in detail.
I recommend two books that discuss Henry Darger's life and attempt to give the reader perspectives on Henry's very difficult upbringing, his high intelligence, his limited socialization skills and how these and other factors affected Henry's life and art. Each author has his/her own theories which you the reader can accept or not.
The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone by Olivia Laing, specifically the chapter "In the Realms of the Unreal" about Henry Darger and his upbringing and his solitary life in Chicago.
Henry Darger, Throwaway Boy: The Tragic Life of an Outsider Artist by Jim Elledge
