Recluse janitor Henry Darger spent more than 40 years in a tiny one-room apartment in Lincoln Park, writing, painting, sketching, collecting and fantasizing.
It wasn’t until after his death in 1973 that his works, discovered by his landlords, trickled onto Chicago’s art scene, with his fanciful stories and sometimes-violent imagery eventually gaining worldwide appreciation — and skyrocketing value.
Now, nearly a half a century later, a brewing legal battle over the rights to Darger’s legacy has landed in Chicago’s federal court, where a lawsuit was filed last week by his estate accusing the landlords of copyright infringement.
