Robert Crumb was a founder of the underground comix movement and is regarded as its most prominent figure. Though one of the most celebrated of comic book artists, Crumb's entire career has unfolded outside the mainstream comic book publishing industry. One of his most recognized works is the "Keep on Truckin'" comic, which became a widely distributed fixture of pop culture in the 1970s. Others are the characters Devil Girl, Fritz the Cat, and Mr. Natural.
n 2009, he published his illustrated graphic novel version of the Book of Genesis.[8][9][10] The book includes annotations explaining his reactions to Biblical stories. It was reported onNPR in October 2009, that it was a four-year effort and does not rewrite any part of the text. Crumb did extensive research in the earlier language versions of the text to support the interpretations. It contains all 50 chapters of Genesis and comes with a warning on its cover: "Adult Supervision Recommended for Minors."
He was inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1991.
He has a unique style that one critic has described as "not knowing if he was old drawing young, or young drawing old." Another thing I found interested was that he cited LSD use as a contributing factor to his style. He is hailed as a genius by some comic book talents. He also collaborates with his wife at times.
His use of biblical stories and his interpretation reminded me of Trenton Doyle Hancock's mythical method of storytelling .
(Sources: Robert Crumb official website, Wikipedia, and arttattler.com)
James Ensor was a late 19th early 20th century painter and print maker. His paintings were originally deemed scandalous, yet he continued to exhibit his work and eventually became accepted by the community. He has been a heavy influence on expressionism and surrealism.
CLAUDIA MELGAR ON WILLIAM BLAKE...
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. His prophetic poetry has been said to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language". His visual artistry has led one contemporary art critic to proclaim him "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced". Although he lived in London his entire life except for three years spent in Felpham he produced a diverse and symbolically rich corpus, which embraced the imagination as "the body of God", or "Human existence itself".
Considered mad by contemporaries for his idiosyncratic views, Blake is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness and creativity, and for the philosophical and mystical undercurrents within his work. His paintings and poetry have been characterised as part of both the Romantic movement and "Pre-Romantic", for its large appearance in the 18th century. Reverent of the Bible but hostile to the Church of England - indeed, to all forms of organised religion - Blake was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American revolutions, as well as by such thinkers as Jakob Böhme and Emanuel Swedenborg.
Despite these known influences, the singularity of Blake's work makes him difficult to classify. The 19th century scholar William Rossetti characterised Blake as a "glorious luminary," and as "a man not forestalled by predecessors, nor to be classed with contemporaries, nor to be replaced by known or readily surmisable successors."
The film Paris, Texas by Wim Wenders was named after this city, but it was not set there.
