Sauve · Galerie Vidourle Prix · 2023
Homage to Aline Kominsky-Crumb
Two drawings created for the 2023 collective exhibition at Galerie Vidourle Prix in Sauve, remembering Aline through the small, vivid moments that remain when someone is gone.
Remembering Aline
I was deeply honored to take part in a group exhibition paying tribute to Aline Kominsky-Crumb (1948–2022), held at Galerie Vidourle Prix in Sauve, France.
Aline was a singular voice in underground and autobiographical comics. Her work was direct, funny, uncomfortable, intimate and entirely her own. She was also an important presence in Sauve, where she and Robert Crumb made their home and became part of the life of the village.
The exhibition brought together a retrospective of Aline’s original work with tributes by more than twenty invited artists, including Robert Crumb and Sophie Crumb. I contributed two drawings.
Exhibition: 1 May – 21 November 2023
Galerie Vidourle Prix
4 rue des Bourgades, Sauve, France
A presence radiating outward from Sauve
My first piece portrays Aline as a radiant, colorful presence, with her energy spreading from the gallery into Sauve and outward beyond the village.
I drew it with dip pen, waterproof ink and watercolor. I wanted the image to feel warm and alive rather than solemn: less a formal portrait than a memory of the force of personality she carried with her.
A memory on the bridge
The second drawing is more autobiographical. It grew from my last encounter with Aline at Galerie Vidourle.
She was wearing a dress printed with abortion-themed comic strips created in collaboration with her daughter Sophie. It was unmistakably Aline: bold, funny, political and completely unconcerned with being conventional.
That moment stayed with me, and when I began thinking about what to contribute to the exhibition, it felt more truthful to draw something remembered than to attempt a stylistic homage.
Drawing from memory
I created both pieces traditionally, using dip pen, waterproof ink and watercolor on paper. Returning to those materials reconnected me with the way I drew for many years before digital tools became part of my everyday work.
Like many cartoonists, I grew up looking at artists such as Ronald Searle, Sempé, Will Elder and Jack Davis, and of course Robert Crumb. But for this exhibition I was less interested in influence than in memory.
What stayed with me were chance meetings with Aline at the market, brief conversations around town, laughter, gestures and the particular energy she brought into a room.
Those ordinary encounters became the starting point for the drawings.
Midi Libre · 30 April 2023
« Ian Marsden honore Aline Kominsky-Crumb »
On the eve of the exhibition opening, Midi Libre published an article about my two drawings and the homage to Aline at Galerie Vidourle Prix.
It was a privilege to take part in this collective remembrance. I hope the exhibition allowed visitors to encounter not only the breadth of Aline’s work, but something of the person behind it — funny, uncompromising, generous, difficult to categorize and impossible to forget.
Ian David Marsden
April 2023
