THE NAKED CITY: THE WRATH OF ROBERT CRUMB
Anybody not familiar with the art of Robert Crumb would have received a grossly distorted picture in the Sydney media following his decision not to attend this weekend’s Graphic festival at the Sydney Opera House. It was a classic example how one contentious part of an artist’s work can be targeted as a means of demonising not only his entire catalogue but his character as well. Bill Henson knows all about that.
It’s history now that Crumb chose to pull the plug on his first ever Australian visit after an article in the Sunday Telegraph headed ‘Cult Genius Or Filthy Weirdo’ was forwarded to him at his home in France. In an open letter to the Sydney Morning Herald published last weekend Crumb exhibited a remarkable insight into the machinations of the local tabloid media and the roping in of anti-child abuse campaigner Hetty Johnston to support their attack. He wrote:
One can see in this example how skilled media professionals with low standards of integrity are able to mould and manipulate public opinion, popular beliefs and ultimately the direction of politics. The majority of the population in most places is not alert to this kind of deceptive manipulation. They are more or less defenceless against such clever “perception management”.
Without the Sunday Telegraph story it’s likely that Crumb’s visit would have gone ahead – his presence here hardly raising a ripple amongst moral campaigners. Following his decision to cancel there’s been a flood of articles and blogs both sympathetic and critical with the latter focusing almost entirely on the more sexual aspects of his work.
In a piece for the SMH, Cathy Wilcox wrote, “I have never been particularly interested in the work of Robert Crumb…” and then goes on to say, “Much of Crumb’s work depicts sex acts degrading to women, and they are not to my taste…” There’s no denying the bizarre sexual content of a number of Crumb’s cartoons but “much” implies a proliferation and that’s hardly the case given the artist’s enormous output over half a century or more. It’s a bit like saying the late Lucian Freud mainly painted super obese women sprawling naked on couches.
We are guessing that most of the journalists who’ve been critical of Crumb or attacked him for his alleged sexual perversions have either Googled up his most salacious images or done a quick thumb-through his autobiographical material as journalist Claire Harvey did in last weekend’s Sunday Telegraph in an almost de facto defence of the original ‘Filthy Weirdo’ story. Admittedly she writes, “I think it would be great to have Crumb in Sydney; he’s a fascinating, talented man…” but then goes on to spend the rest of the article detailing his alleged sexual psychoses.
Most Crumb aficionados that we’ve come across admire the man for his amazing artistry and his insight into the human character, be it warped, self-parodying or mundanely splendid as in the case of his Harvey Pekar comics. They probably do exist, but we’ve yet to come across anybody who’s had a hard-on reading a Crumb comic – not these days at least considering the porn fest available on the internet.
Perhaps all those who chose to demonise Crumb as a shameful old sex-obsessed pervert need to pick up a copy of his award winning Book Of Genesis Illustrated, a monumental retelling of all 50 chapters of the first book of the Bible which is not only beautifully drawn and remarkably detailed but strangely moving and engaging – be you a Christian, agnostic, atheist or even a tabloid journalist!
The Graphic festival takes place at the Sydney Opera House this coming Saturday and Sunday. Even without Robert Crumb it’s a great roster of talent and an event that should not be missed by anybody with an interest in comic art. www.graphic.sydneyoperahouse.com
