Henry Darger died a virtually unknown artist in 1973. Since then, he’s become a renowned “outsider” artist, known for the artwork he created in a one-bedroom apartment on Webster Avenue in Lincoln Park.
This month, the building where he lived and worked for 40 years will go on the market. The rehabilitated building, now a five-bedroom home, will be listed for just under $2.6 million, according to Annika Caldiserr, a real estate agent at @properties.
Built in the 1880s, the building bears little resemblance to when Darger worked in a dark-painted room and turned out an enormous amount of art that included a 15,000-page typed fantasy novel titled “In the Realms of the Unreal.” Since remodeled, Darger’s workspace is now a media room, Caldiserri said.
Although the home has been changed, Darger’s workspace has been re-created at a local museum, Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art. The museum at 756 N. Milwaukee Ave. is currently closed for renovations.
The possible sale of the building was first reported by Crain’s Chicago Business.
Darger created a massive amount of art during his life that he shared with virtually no one. When his landlords cleared his apartment in 1972, they discovered hundreds of his watercolors, collage paintings and the illustrated novel. His works have generated millions of dollars at auction.
The building is owned by Annika Olson and Rob Lefko, who bought it in 2005 for about $2 million. A year earlier, a documentary chronicling Darger’s life, “In the Realms of the Unreal,” won the National Film Board Award for best documentary.
The building owners are not part of the ongoing lawsuit over the ownership of Darger’s works. Darger’s former landlords claim he gave them ownership as he left to live out his last year at a Chicago elder home, reportedly saying, “I have nothing I need in the room. It is all yours. You can throw everything away.” Darger died unmarried with no children.
Darger’s surviving relatives claim they are the rightful heirs. A lawsuit in Cook County filed by those relatives has been put on hold while a federal lawsuit over ownership of Darger’s art is decided.