Museums, Galleries & Exhibitions
Cutting and Pasting a World: The Paper Craft of Henry Darger June 27, 2026
Intuit Art Museum (IAM), recognized worldwide as one of the few institutions dedicated solely to championing the work of self-taught artists, marks the 250th anniversary of American craft with Cutting and Pasting a World: The Paper Craft of Henry Darger, an insightful new exhibition exploring the connection between the work of prolific Chicago-based artist Henry Darger (1892-1973) and traditional American paper crafts.
With this exhibition, Intuit Art Museum is a proud participant in Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026, joining more than 250 organizations around the country contributing exhibitions and events that showcase the depth and diversity of American craft. Cutting and Pasting a World opens at the recently reimagined Intuit Art Museum, John Jerit Center, 756 N. Milwaukee Avenue, in Chicago’s vibrant West Town neighborhood on Wednesday, June 17, 2026. An opening reception is free and open to the public on Wednesday, June 17, from 6-8 pm. Cutting and Pasting a World will remain on view through January 31, 2027.
Drawing on research by guest curator, art historian and College of Charleston Associate Professor Dr.Mary Trent, Cutting and Pasting a World illustrates how the turn-of-the-century practices of making paper dolls and paper dollhouse scrapbooks may have influenced Darger’s evolution as an artist and maker. By showcasing both finished artworks and original source materials, the exhibition demonstrates how Darger adapted these humble pastimes into sophisticated methods for constructing large-scale, mixed-media narratives.
“This exhibition reestablishes Darger’s works to their original form and concept, not as framed fine art objects, but as double-sided pages in bound books, rooted in paper doll and scrapbooking crafts. By returning them to their source in domestic practices of women and children, we can finally read them as what they always were: a pointed critique of American family ideals,” said Trent.
The exhibition provides context for these crafts within the early 20th-century movement to instill middle-class American “taste” in a burgeoning immigrant population. Likely exposed to these practices within social welfare institutions as a child, Darger ultimately subverted them—transforming decorative domestic crafts into a profound and complex commentary on the vulnerabilities of marginalized children.
“Intuit continues to break new ground, providing audiences with fresh insights into the influences on and processes involved in Henry Darger’s artmaking,” said Intuit Art Museum President Debra Kerr. “The mysteries surrounding Darger and his art continue to engage and inspire fans of self-taught art from around the world.”
Cutting and Pasting a World will be showcased as a special exhibition within Intuit’s signature Duchossois Family Henry Darger Exhibition Gallery, which celebrates the legacy of the noted Chicago artist over two floors. This exhibition serves as a companion to the permanent (and popular) Henry Darger Room on the Museum’s lower level, a recreation of Darger’s apartment at 851 Webster Avenue in Lincoln Park, which doubled as his home and studio for more than 40 years.
Related exhibition programming
On Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, as part of Intuit’s monthly open-late program, Art After Work, Intuit will host a talk with Mary Trent, curator of Cutting and Pasting a World. Trent will discuss the exhibition and share insights from the research that shaped its development. From September through the remainder of the exhibition, Intuit’s Center for Learning and Engagement will feature a large-scale interactive installation inspired by paper doll house traditions highlighted in the exhibition. Designed by Intuit educators, the participatory installation will invite visitors to contribute their own creative elements, fostering engagement with the exhibition’s themes through collaborative making and imaginative play.
Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026, a nationwide Semiquincentennial initiative to showcase the importance of the handmade both throughout our history and in contemporary life, is presented by Craft in America, the Peabody Award-winning and Emmy-nominated documentary series. Handwork 2026 is a year-long collaboration among organizations, educators, and makers to celebrate the diversity of the crafts that define America, bringing compelling stories and underrepresented art and artists into the spotlight through the following programs. Intuit is one of four Illinois institutions participating, along with Fine Line Creative Arts Center, Joy Machine and Lillstreet Art Center.
Founded in 1991 as a nonprofit, Intuit is a premier museum of self-taught art. Intuit champions the diverse voices of self-taught art, welcoming both new and familiar audiences. Intuit Art Museum is open 11 a.m.–6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday and until 8 p.m. on third Thursdays. Admission is $20 or free for members, those 24 and younger, and those unable to pay.
