David Zwirner is deeply saddened to share that artist Aline Kominsky-Crumb has passed away aged 74, in the south of France.
Since 1971, Kominsky-Crumb, wife and mother of artists R. Crumb and Sophie Crumb, respectively, had been a pioneering figure in the world of comics, well-known for her confessional mode of storytelling and expressionist-inspired drawing style. She was one of the first contributors to the all-female anthology Wimmen’s Comix in 1971; cofounded the seminal comics series Twisted Sisters in 1976; and, in the 1980s, served as editor for the influential alternative comics anthology Weirdo. Her work has been published in Artforum, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and many other magazines, and has been exhibited in numerous museums.
“[Kominsky-Crumb’s] female faces … have sometimes uncontainable fierceness.”
—Roberta Smith, The New York Times
She was born Aline Goldsmith in Long Island, New York, in 1948. By the time they met in 1971, Aline and R. Crumb had each already established themselves at the forefront of the underground comics scene. Since then, the two artists have maintained distinctive practices while also frequently collaborating on projects such as Aline and Bob’s Dirty Laundry Comics (1974) and, more recently, Bad Diet & Bad Hair Destroy Human Civilization (2020).
Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Self-portrait, 2021. © 2022 Aline Kominsky-Crumb
