Sun Sep 7, 2008 — by Robert Greenberger

R. Crumb Exhibit Opens in Philadelphia

100 of the Cartoonist's Works on Display

Philadelphia’s Institute of Contemporary Art has opened an exhibit, "R. Crumb’s Underground", running through December 7.  As a part of ICA’s Comics, Animation and Graphic Novels at Penn - A Year-Long Celebration, the exhibit chronicles Crumb’s work from the pioneering early days of Underground Comix through his more modern works of art.

The 100+ works of art were originally selected and organized by Todd Hignite, the publisher and editor of Comic Art magazine in 2007 for San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts before coming east.

The retrospective was reviewed by The New York Timeswhich noted, “Whatever the aesthetic and formal attractions of his work, Mr. Crumb’s penchant for barging past the limits of good taste and political correctness into psychologically juicy and dangerously complicated territory is still the main draw. His most amazingly provocative creation is Angelfood McSpade, a young, inky black, big-breasted African woman in a palm leaf skirt who was inspired by racist caricatures of the ’20s and ’30s. Sweet-tempered and dimwitted, the long-suffering Angelfood is subjected to all kinds of sexual abuse in various episodes Mr. Crumb has drawn. In one hilarious strip in the exhibition she is abducted and molested by aliens in a U.F.O.”

The review also recommends visitors allot up to three hours to properly take in the exhibit. Institute of Contemporary Art, 118 South 36th Street, Philadelphia; (215) 898-7108.

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