Maxon Joseph Crumb (born March 28, 1945, in Albert Lea,

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

) is an American artist and the younger brother of underground

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

Robert Crumb Robert Dennis Crumb (; born August 30, 1943) is an American artist who often signs his work R. Crumb. His work displays a nostalgia for American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and satire of contemporary American c ...

and Charles Crumb, and the uncle of

Sophie Crumb Sophia Violet "Sophie" Crumb (born September 27, 1981) is an American-French comics artist. Personal life Crumb is the daughter of underground comix artists Robert Crumb and Aline Kominsky-Crumb. She was born in Woodland, California, and l ...

Biography

Maxon Crumb was born in 1945, the third son of Charles and Beatrice Crumb. His early work can be found in publications such as '' Weirdo'', ''Liquidator'', ''Maxon's Poe'' (1997), and ''Crumb Family Comics'' (

Last Gasp (The) Last Gasp may refer to * Last Gasp (publisher) Last Gasp is a San Francisco–based book publisher with a lowbrow art and counterculture focus. Owned and operated by Ron Turner, for most of its existence Last Gasp was a publisher, dis ...

, 1998). His

first published novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

, ''HardCore Mother'' (2000), was a study of

incest Incest ( ) is sexual intercourse, sex between kinship, close relatives, for example a brother, sister, or parent. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by lineag ...

and sadism. After its publication in 2001, his work found a wider audience. Maxon Crumb was featured in the documentary '' Crumb'',Guthmann, Edward (May 26, 1995)
"Exposing the Nerves of Crumb 's Tortured Soul - Film profiles underground artist of '60s"
''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

''. Retrieved 2012-11-17. about his brother,

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, prais ...

Art practice

Maxon Crumb initially started painting as a way to deal with his own personal demons. He has subsequently managed to earn money from his art. His paintings and ink drawings can take weeks or months to complete. During this time, Maxon says that he will enter into an intense creative state where the work becomes paramount, to the detriment of normal everyday concerns, including eating. Maxon Crumb's drawings are available online as well as fine art limited-edition prints.

Personal life

In addition to his brothers Charles and Robert, Maxon also had two sisters, Carol DeGennaro (1941–2020) and Sandra Colorado (1946–1998). Maxon practices

celibacy Celibacy (from Latin ''caelibatus'') is the state of voluntarily being unmarried, sexually abstinent, or both. It is often in association with the role of a religious official or devotee. In its narrow sense, the term ''celibacy'' is applied ...

and has done so for many years because, as he has explained in interviews, for him, sex triggers

epileptic seizures A seizure is a sudden, brief disruption of brain activity caused by abnormal, excessive, or synchronous neuronal firing. Depending on the regions of the brain involved, seizures can lead to changes in movement, sensation, behavior, awareness, o ...

. In the 1994 documentary '' Crumb'', Maxon Crumb admitted to a history of sexually assaulting women.

References

External links

'The Maxon BackStory' Podcast
SFGate.com *
review of Malcolm Whyte’s illustrated biography of Maxon
''Art Out of Chaos'' (F.U. Press. 2018 {{DEFAULTSORT:Crumb, Maxon 20th-century American painters American graphic artists 21st-century American painters 21st-century American novelists 1945 births Living people People with epilepsy American people of Scottish descent American people of English descent