The Power and Fluidity of Girlhood in Henry Dargers Art

This book is the first to examine Henry Dargers conceptual and visual representation of "girls" and girlhood.

Specifically, Leisa Rundquist charts the artists use of little girl imagery--his direct appropriations from mainstream sources as well as girls modified to meet his needs--in contexts that many scholars have read as puerile and psychologically disturbed. Consequently, this inquiry qualifies the intersexed aspects of Dargers protagonists as well as addresses their inherent cute and little associations that signal multivocal meanings often in conflict with each other. Rundquist engages Dargers art through thematic analyses of the artists writings, mature works, collages, and ephemeral materials.

This book will be of particular interest to scholars in art history, art and gender studies, sociology, and contemporary art.