BIOGRAPHY:
Robert Crumb (1943-
) is widely regarded as one of the most controversial and gifted
cartoonists of the twentieth century. He is known as the father
of the underground comics of the 1960's and he paved the way
for both satire and autobiography in the comics medium. The
following publications provide an excellent starting point
in gaining a better understanding of Robert Crumb:
 The Comics Journal Library Vol 3: Robert
Crumb
is a compilation of interviews culled from the archives of The
Comics Journal.
 R.
Crumb Conversations reprints interviews and profiles
from various publications that span the various periods and
events in Crumbs life and work.
 The
Life & Times Of R. Crumb contains accolades and
reflections by over forty of Crumb's peers, friends and admirers,
including Alan Moore, Will Eisner, Matt Groening and Dan
Clowes.
Interviews:
Time.com (2005)
The
Guardian/NFT Interview (2005)
The Guardian (2005)
Resources:
Recommended by... Robert Crumb
The Official Robert Crumb Site
The Crumb Museum
Robert
Crumb at Drawn & Quarterly
Robert Crumb at Fantagraphics
The R. Crumb Handbook
Salon.com: Profile
On-Line Comics:
The
Religious Experience Of Philip K. Dick
Reviews:
Ninth Art: The R. Crumb Handbook
Time.com:
Mystic Funnies
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ESSENTIAL
READING: |
MQ Publications
How does a loser schmuck become a cultural icon? Robert Crumb and his old drinking
buddy, Pete Poplaski, guide us through the life and times of one of the 20th
Century's most notorious and influential counter-culture artists. By tracing
his development as a cartoonist from his tormented childhood in the 1940s,
through to his coming of age as an artist in the psychedelic revolution of
the 1960s, Robert Crumb exposes the pressures and influences that the modern
mass media has on human consciousness. With over 400 pages of cartoons and
photographs, Crumb's often controversial views toward Disneyland, growing up
on America, hippie love, art galleries, and turning 60 are revealed. Includes
a CD of 20 songs played by Robert Crumb.
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Icon Books
Go beyond the Kafkaesque cliché as
Robert Crumb illustrates the true portrait of Kafka - alienated
from his roots, his family, his surroundings, and primarily from
his own body, Kafka created a unique literary language in which
to hide away, transforming himself into a cockroach, an ape, a
dog, a mole, or a circus artiste who starves himself to death in
front of admiring crowds. In this book, Robert Crumb's illustrations
add a new dimension to the already idiosyncratic world of Kafka
and includes adaptations of The Judgment, The
Trial and The Metamorphosis.
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Fantagraphics
"Robert Crumb not only began the modern movement
in American comics, he is one of its most brilliant and controversial
figures... Crumb transcends his position as the archetypal
underground comix artist of the sixties. His work breaks new
ground and goes beyond the crude joke or stereotyped fantasy.
Beneath the outrageous surface is an incisive portrait of contemporary
American culture. He draws his world and characters with great
skill, keeping a deliberate balance between humour and pathos..."
P.R. Garriock, from Masters Of Comic Book Art
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Fantagraphics
"Take a look at his sketchbooks and see just
how much he's capable of caring about a stack of firewood or
the light on his wife's forehead or a corner of his backyard,
and if that doesn't make you feel better about the world we live
in, then get a friend to try holding a mirror under your nose."
Alan Moore
"One can practically become lost in the onrush of caricatures,
impeccably rendered portraits, formal practice... intense self-scrutiny,
excerpts from various authors, screeds, comic strips, roughs
for strips that never appeared, a visual playfulness that one
rarely sees in his comics after 1970, stunning displays of virtuoso
draftsmanship, the occasional abstract or surreal vista, diary
like entries... heart-breaking depictions of his daughter Sophie,
worshipful drawings of his wife Aline, his sensual, supple form,
humor, seriousness, empathy, misanthropy, goofing off and self-flagellating
anguish - in short, the full panoply of a life of perceptions
rendered with consummate artistry."
The Top 100 Comics, The Comics Journal #210 |
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Four Wall Eight Windows, 1996
Harvey Pekar's acclaimed
comic book American
Splendor has documented life on the streets of Cleveland
since 1976, and Robert Crumb was a frequent illustrator of
his stories. Bob & Harv's Comics collects
all their collaborations from the two decades they worked together.
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Drawn & Quarterly/Oog & Blink
"I'm earning money while
waiting to be served! I'm actually getting paid for it! Can you
imagine?? You see, recently I had an art show of placemat drawings
at a gallery in New York and some of these things sold for thousands
of dollars apiece! I was flabbergasted! The foodstains on the paper
(which don't show up on the reproductions in these books) actually
enhance the value, according to the gallery owner. The grease marks
gave then an ambience that had an uncanny appeal to art buyers.
That's the art world for you. To think I used to just walk out
and leave these drawings on the table, or give them to anyone who
asked for them! What a fool! Well, those days are gone! Think of
it! I could earn good living just by going out and eating in restaurants
every night, and making placemat drawings!"
Robert Crumb, form the introduction to Volume
3
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Oog & Blink,
2001
Crumb the commercial artist - Odds & Ends is
a unique collection of pictures, portraits, sketches, birth announcements,
magazine covers etc, commissioned throughout Robert Crumb's career.
A fascinating insight into R. Crumb's world.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY: |
The Complete Crumb Comics:
1 - Early Years Of Bitter Struggle
2 - More Early Years Of Bitter Struggle
3 - Fritz The Cat
4 - Mr Sixties
5 - Happy Hippy Comics
6 - On The Crest Of A Wave
7 - Mr Natural & Big Baby
8 - The Death Of Fritz The Cat
9 - Crumb vs The Sisterhood
10 - Crumb Advocates Violent Overthrow
11 - Mr Natural Committed
12 - Crumb & Pekar Team Up
13 - The Season Of The Snoid
14 - The Early 1980's & Weirdo
15 - Mode O' Day & Patton
16 - The Mid 1980's
Other Books:
American Splendor: Bob & Harv's Comics
Art & Beauty #1-2
Introducing... Kafka
Mystic Funnies #1-3
Odds & Ends
R Crumb Sketchbooks #1-10
The R. Crumb Handbook
Waiting For Food #1-3
Your Vigor For Life Appalls Me |
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The
R. Crumb Handbook