Aline Kominsky

Aline Kominsky-Crumb (née Goldsmith; August 1, 1948 – November 29, 2022) was an American underground comics artist. Kominsky-Crumb's work, which is almost exclusively autobiographical, is known for its unvarnished, confessional nature. In 2016, ComicsAlliance listed Kominsky-Crumb as one of twelve women cartoonists deserving of lifetime achievement recognition. She was married to cartoonist Robert Crumb, with whom she frequently collaborated. Their daughter, Sophie Crumb, is also a cartoonist.

Biography

Early life and education

Aline Goldsmith was born to a Jewish family in the Five Towns area of Long Island, New York.Kominsky-Crumb, Aline. (2007). ''Need More Love''. New York: MQ Publications. Her father was a largely unsuccessful businessman and organized crime associate. As a teenager, she turned to drugs and the counterculture, and was a hanger-on to New York countercultural musicians such as The Fugs. Relocating to East Village during her college years, she began studying art at The Cooper Union.

In 1968, Aline married Carl Kominsky, with whom she relocated to Tucson, Arizona. Their marriage did not last long. However, she retained the surname Kominsky after their split. During this time, she attended University of Arizona, graduating with a BFA in 1971.

Career

Kominsky-Crumb was introduced to underground cartoonists Spain Rodriguez and Kim Deitch by former Fugs drummer Ken Weaver, who was living in Tucson at the same time. Rodriguez and Deitch introduced her to underground comix, inspiring her to begin making underground comics herself and to relocate to San Francisco.

In 1972, soon after arriving in San Francisco, Aline was introduced to Robert Crumb by mutual friends, who had noted an uncanny resemblance between her and the coincidentally-named Crumb character Honeybunch Kaminski (who had been created in 1970). Their relationship soon became serious, and they began living together.

Kominsky-Crumb also fell in with the ''Wimmen's Comix'' collective, and contributed to the first few issues of that series. After she and Diane Noomin had a falling out with Trina Robbins and other members of the collective, they started their own title, '' Twisted Sisters''. Kominsky-Crumb later claimed that a large part of her break with the ''Wimmen's Comix'' group was over feminist issues and particularly over her relationship with Robert Crumb, whom Robbins particularly disliked.

Kominsky-Crumb married Crumb in 1978. Their daughter Sophie was born in 1981. Starting in the late 1970s, Aline and Robert produced a series of collaborative comics called ''Dirty Laundry'' (also known as ''Aline & Bob's Dirty Laundry''), a comic about the Crumb family life. They both drew their own characters for the comic. Around this time, Kominsky-Crumb began calling her comics avatar "The Bunch," a reference to the similarly named Crumb character. Later installments of ''Dirty Laundry'' feature contributions by Sophie, who also began producing comics in her teens.

From 1986 to 1993, Kominsky-Crumb was editor of '' Weirdo'', a leading alternative comics anthology of the time, taking over the editorship from Peter Bagge, who had previously taken over from original editor Robert Crumb. Her editorial reign was known as " Twisted Sisters", reviving that title; Noomin was a frequent ''Weirdo'' contributor during this period, which also featured Kominsky-Crumb's own comics.

From 1991, Robert and Aline lived as expatriates in a small French village in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. Aline had long been an avowed Francophile, while Robert had become especially disgusted with American culture, and they believed it would be a better environment for their daughter.

Kominsky-Crumb was featured in a number of scenes in '' Crumb'', the 1994 documentary about the Crumb family.

Kominsky-Crumb and her husband had an open marriage, and Kominsky-Crumb's "second husband", French printmaker Christian Coudurès, lived with the family (as did his daughter, Agathe McCamy, who assisted Kominsky-Crumb in coloring her comics).

In addition to her comics work, Kominsky-Crumb was a painter. After moving to France, she focused more on painting and less on producing comics. In February 2007 she released a memoir entitled ''Need More Love: A Graphic Memoir'', a collection of her comics and paintings, along with photographs and autobiographical writings.

In 2018, Kominsky-Crumb's ''Love That Bunch'', which was originally published in 1990, was expanded by Drawn & Quarterly with new comics and an introduction written by Hillary Chute.

Death

Kominsky-Crumb died from pancreatic cancer at her home in France on November 29, 2022, at the age of 74.

In popular culture

In the 2015 movie, ''The Diary of a Teenage Girl'' set in San Francisco during the mid-1970's, the heroine, an aspiring cartoonist, imagines herself talking with Kominsky, and apparently writes a letter to Kominsky, and receives a response, encouraging her to continue drawing.

Works

Comics contributed to

*''Wimmen's Comix'' #1, 2, #4 (1972–1974)
*''El Perfecto'' (1973) – contributor & editor
*''Manhunt'' (1973–1974)
*''Dirty Laundry Comics'' #1, 2 (1974–1977)
*''Arcade'' (1975–1976)
*'' Twisted Sisters'' (Last Gasp, 1976) – contributor & editor
*''Lemme Outta Here'' (The Print Mint, 1978)
*'' Best Buy Comics'' (Apex Novelties / Last Gasp, 1979–88)
*'' Weirdo'' (Last Gasp, 1986–1993) – contributor & editor
*''Real Stuff #6'' (Fantagraphics, 1992)
*''Twisted Sisters'' #4 (Kitchen Sink Press, 1994)
*''Self-Loathing Comics'' #1 & 2 (Fantagraphics, 1995–97)

Compilations

* )
* )
* )
* )

Solo work

*
* ); re-issued by Drawn & Quarterly in 2018 ()
*

References

Bibliography

*

External links

Lambiek Comiclopedia biography.
*
*

from ''Mineshaft magazine'', issue #20 (September 2007)
Video Short
Aline and her cousin Ilana Arazie in Florida, March 30, 2010
Let My Botox Go Blog
Aline's latest Florida adventure, February 20, 2011
*

Interviews

''The Guardian'', March 25, 2005. – Aline Kominsky-Crumb answers ''Guardian'' readers' questions.
"The R. Crumb Handbook"
'' The Leonard Lopate Show'', April 13, 2005.
"Aline Crumb"
interview by Daniel Robert Epstein, ''SuicideGirls'', November 29, 2006.
"Loudmouth: Aline Kominsky-Crumb tells all"
interview by Sara Ivry, Nextbook, February 5, 2007. (page links to MP3 audio file)
"The Crumbs' Underground Comics"
interview with Aline and Robert Crumb by Terry Gross, ''Fresh Air'', February 13, 2007. (page links to streaming RealPlayer audio)
*Interview with Hillary Chute, '' The Believer'', November/December 2009
Kristen Schilt interviews Aline Kominsky-Crumb at "Comics: Philosophy & Practice" Conference
May 2012

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kominsky-Crumb, Aline
1948 births
2022 deaths
20th-century American memoirists
20th-century American women writers
20th-century American artists
20th-century American women artists
American comics artists
American comics writers
American expatriates in France
American female comics artists
American women humorists
American memoirists
Cooper Union alumni
American female comics writers
Jewish American comics writers
Jewish American comics artists
Jewish American memoirists
Jewish women writers
Jewish humorists
People from the East Village, Manhattan
People from The Five Towns, New York
Underground cartoonists
University of Arizona alumni
Writers from New York (state)
Deaths from pancreatic cancer in France
Jewish women artists
American magazine editors
American women magazine editors