She Got to Sit on Ringo's Lap!: Henry Darger’s Preparatory Tracing in the Context of Modernism as a Product of Popular Culture
“The idea that modern art looks like something a child could do is one of the oldest cliches around; it has been with us since the inception of the avant garde” (Fineberg, 1997, p.2). This essay will discuss She Got to Sit on Ringo's Lap, a preparatory collection of collage and tracings as a piece of modernist art. This will be discussed through ideas of Western primitivism, psychoanalysis, pop culture, remediation, self reflexivity, surrealism, and as a piece of layered visual experience. First the artwork itself will be described, followed by a definition of Modernism, ending with applying this definition to the artwork. She Got to Sit on Ringo’s Lap Henry Darger (1892-1973) was an American outsider artist who lived and worked mostly in isolation, creating his vast amount of work over the span of five decades. The majority of his work is in the form of a picture book and preparatory sketches, made by watercolour and pencil drawings with elements of collage. The hardships of his ...
