New York City, NY - April 12th, 2005 - Aline and Robert Crumb attend A Night at Crumbland. The photo was taken by Nick Papananias and Patrick McMullan.
Female artists were not supported by the underground comix scene. Aline Kominsky-Crumb was one of the few who left a lasting legacy. Sources close to the family confirmed the death of Kominsky-Crumb on Tuesday at her home in France from Pancreatic Cancer. She was a woman.
When she was a student at the University of Arizona in the 1960's, Kominsky-Crumb got into underground comix. She moved to San Francisco in 1972 to pursue her artistic career, and fell in with underground icon Robert Crumb after mutual friends noticed a resemblance to a character he had created several years previously named "Honeybunch Kominsky." They were married in 1978 and had a child in 1981.
One of the founding members of the influential all-female collective was Kominsky-Crumb. The group broke up in the mid-1970s in order to do their own publication. The political issues of female empowerment, criticism of the patriarchy, sexual politics, lesbianism and other topics were addressed in both comics.
The pointed nature of the material was not a factor in Kominsky-Crumb's approach. To emphasize her internal struggles with social expectations, her self- image, sexual relationships, her domineering mother, and eventually her domestic situation, she took to a prominent tenet of feminist theory, "the personal is the political."
The cultural ideal of the Jewish American Princess was one of the many stereotypes Jewish women had to deal with in the twentieth century. Aline embraced it in her later work. She showed me how to make art and not lose myself in Canada.
Her drawing style emphasized the grotesque and awkward and squeezed humor from the cringe-inducing moments.
Roberta Gregory, who became the first woman to self-publish her own work and created the long-running "Bitchy B", said that Aline's work stood out when she first saw it. It was a lot of fun and broke every rule in the book. If you have a story to tell, tell it with all you have.
Aline Kominiski-crumb has a comic book.
In succeeding waves of autobiographical graphic novels, such as Alison Bechdel's Fun Home, and in the self-deprecating "hot mess" brand of graphic novels, the influence of Kominsky-crumb's work can be seen.
Aline and Bob's Dirty Laundry was a series that Aline and Robert collaborated on. The contrast between their art, their characters and their sense of humor made for an unnerving reading experience. She was editor of the influential post-underground magazine Weirdo, which was later edited by Peter Bagge.
In the 2000s, Kominsky-Crumb's contributions to art and comics were more widely known. She exhibited solo and combined shows at high-end galleries around the world after she published her memoir Need More Love. In contrast to her husband, she was very active in the public eye and made their appearances quite amusing.
Many in the world of art and comics were shocked by Kominsky-Crumb's death. Privacy is requested by the family during their time of grief.
The Society of Illustrators in New York has an interview with comic book author and illustrator Robert Crumb and his wife Aline. This photo was taken on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
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