Charles Crumb

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Charles Crumb
Born Charles Vincent Crumb, Jr.
1942
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Died February 1993 (aged 50–51)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Occupation Artist
Parent(s) Charles Crumb[1]
Beatrice Crumb[1]
Relatives Robert Crumb (brother)
Maxon Crumb (brother)
Sophie Crumb (niece)[1]
Carol DeGennaro (sister)[1]
Sandra Colorado (sister)[1]

Charles Vincent Crumb, Jr. (1942 – February 1993)[1] was an American artist and the brother of the cartoonist Robert Crumb.

Charles often appears as a character in Robert Crumb's comic stories and autobiographical writings; Robert credits Charles' childhood obsession with making comics as the foundation of Robert's own devotion to his art. Robert has been done several works adapted from things he and Charles did as children, as well as telling stories about Charles in Robert's own comics.

As Charles entered adulthood he began showing signs of mental illness, due to what he himself described as his "homosexual pedophiliac tendencies". As a teenager he had already developed a particular obsession for Bobby Driscoll, child star of the film Treasure Island, and much of his artwork focused on themes and characters from the film and novel. According to his own testimony, Charles Crumb never succumbed to his urges and remained determined not to. Throughout the years, he remained constantly terrified that his sexual tendencies could be discovered by his mother, or by anyone.[2]

During his adult life, he never left his family home and rarely ventured outside of it, where he lived with his mother. At this point his artwork exhibited repetitive and painstaking concentric lines filling in otherwise normal Crumb-esque drawings, reflecting an obsession with filling every last centimeter of white space.

Charles Crumb and his artwork received wide public attention as a result of the success of the 1994 feature-length documentary film Crumb, in which Charles and some of his work are featured prominently. His artwork, including notebooks filled with tiny gestural marks that suggest handwriting, has been published and exhibited, sometimes in the context of outsider art. After Charles committed suicide, his mother threw out a great deal of his artwork as she thought "no one would be interested in it."

In the film Crumb, R. Crumb describes how Charles would often react to things by saying "How perfectly goddamned delightful it all is, to be sure." It was a catch-phrase of his. Robert remarks, "Whenever he said that, it always took the wind out of my sails."

Charles Crumb committed suicide in February 1993.[1] He reportedly died as a result of an overdose.[1] The producer of the film, David Lynch, said he considered writing a screenplay for a film for Charles to star in.[1]

The film Crumb was dedicated to his memory.

Further reading

  • Crumb Family Comics (Last Gasp, 1997)
  • The Complete Crumb Comics (Fantagraphics, 1997–2005)
  • Your Vigor for Life Appalls Me: Robert Crumb Letters 1958-1977 (Fantagraphics, 1998)

References

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External links

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  2. Robert Crumb, Maxon Crumb (edited by), Crumb Comics: The Whole Family Is Crazy!, Last Gasp, 1998, pp. 29-33