Art of R. Crumb

Libération

2010-01-28T00:00:00.005Z

Cover for Libération. 28 January 2010.

A Crumb drawing used for the cover of an issue of the French newspaper Libération. The entire issue uses cartoons instead of photos, in honor of the annual Angoulême comics festival. This is the second Crumb drawing for a Libération cover.

Quiet Study

2009-11-26T08:00:00.006Z

Robert Crumb, Quiet Study, 2009, Etching, 12 x 15 inches (embossed area 9 x 6 inches, image 7.8 x 4.8 inches), Number 25 of edition of 45, signed "R. Crumb '09" lower right.

Wildwood etching released in November 2009. Supposedly one of Crumb's favorite drawings. Appears in Odds & Ends; originated as a 1990 calendar for Carlson & Turner bookstore (where the title is listed as "The Book Reader").

W The Art Issue

2009-11-19T18:09:00.002Z

Robert Crumb. 2009. "Varieties of Women." W, November.

Crumb is one of the artists profiled in the November 2009 W magazine art issue. Beginning on page 134, the 15 page spread reproduces various drawings of women Crumb has done over the years.

"Book of Genesis" Conversation, B&N New York

2009-10-24T03:00:00.010+01:00

Crumb and Françoise Mouly at Barnes & Noble Union Square - New York. I dragged my 15-year old daughter along and she actually found it interesting!

Robert Crumb. 2009. The Book of Genesis. Norton. Green sticker "AUTOGRAPHED COPY" on bottom left. Signed "R. Crumb N.Y.C. '09" on lower right of title page.

A video was made of the event:

Happy Birthday

2009-09-21T00:35:00.002+01:00

My daughter made me a Crumb inspired birthday card! Our daughters' first name is a quirk I share with Crumb.

FESTIVAL M.A.D. IN SAUVE

2009-07-17T12:00:00.006+01:00

Robert Crumb. 2009. Festival M.A.D. In Sauve. Poster. 17 x 12 inches. Signed "R. Crumb '09" lower right. © Robert Crumb.

A poster Crumb made for a music, art and dance festival in a French village. Just love the cartoon characters, the arrangement, the color and the lettering.

Keep on Czechin'...

2009-06-19T18:04:00.008+01:00

Big Ben Bookshop, Prague, Czech Republic

R. Crumb, Aline Kominsky Crumb, Gilbert Shelton's hand and me at the Big Ben Bookshop in Prague for a book signing during the Prague Writers' Festival.

After the signing, Gilbert Shelton popped into "Fat Boy's Bar" next door and signed the postcard of the Fabulous Freak Brothers (the Aussie owner of the bar is on the right).

Gilbert Shelton. Cartoon used for a "The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers" postcard. 10 1/2 x 5 13/16 inches. Signed "FOR MICHAEL-Gilbert Shelton PRAGUE 2009" lower right. © & ™ Gilbert Shelton.

The back of the postcard listed a web site-www.grassrootsthemove.com. I checked it out and found out that some British filmmakers are making an animated movie about Shelton's Freak Brothers. A pilot clip is below.

A black T-shirt with a spin on the famous "Keep on Truckin'..." motif was created for the Prague Writers' Festival ("Keep on Czechin'...") and I was kindly given one by the Big Ben staff :)

Mr. and Mrs. Crumb gave a talk on Thursday, 11 June 2009 at the Laterna Magika Theater. A clip is below.

Genesis redrawn

2009-06-08T08:00:00.003+01:00

Robert Crumb. “The Book of Genesis,” The New Yorker, June 8, 2009, p. 90. Signed "R. Crumb 2009" on lower left of p. 91.

An extract of the upcoming Book of Genesis published in the 8 June 2009 edition of the New Yorker.

Underground Classics

2009-05-02T18:08:00.008+01:00

Robert Crumb. "Fight the Big Companies..." [Cover] In Denis Kitchen and James Danky. 2009. Underground Classics: The Transformation of Comics into Comix. Co-edition with Chazen Museum of Art. Abrams ComicArts. Signed "Dennis Kitchen 5/5/09" along with drawing on title page. Also signed by R. Crumb, A. Kominsky Crumb and Gilbert Shelton on pages 61, 92 and 119.

The catalog for the exhibition at the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison, Wisconsin, May 2 to July 12, 2009. This is a comprehensive catalog with works of all of the major American comix artists. There are also several essays that put the work into the socio-cultural context of the time as well as a number of photos that put a face behind the cartoonists. Essential reference for any comix lover.

Flag of the European Union

2009-04-10T08:00:00.006+01:00

“The circle of gold stars represents solidarity and harmony between the peoples of Europe...There are twelve stars because the number twelve is traditionally the symbol of perfection, completeness and unity. ”—"The European Flag" http://europa.eu/abc/symbols/emblem/index_en.htm

Robert Crumb. 2009. Flag of the European Union. Color computer print. 11 3/4 by 8 1/4 inches. Signed "R. Crumb Prague 2009" in lower right.

Crumb was commissioned to do a "flag" for the Prague Writers' Festival. Michael March, the President of the festival, gave me the copy above which Mr. Crumb kindly signed when I met him in Prague. The flag was hung in the interior of the Laterna Magika theater during the festival.

Komiks Fest! revue

2009-04-01T17:55:00.003+01:00

A Czech comics journal I picked up when I was in Prague. This issue has a feature on R. Crumb. It includes the Czech version of Crumb's "My Trouble with Women", a Gilbert Shelton piece, the front and back cover by Crumb and an ad for the upcoming Prague Writer Festival where both Crumb and Shelton will appear. Mr. Crumb kindly signed it for me.

Crumb, R. 2009. "My Troubles with Women (1980). " Trans. Richard Podany. Komiks Fest! revue, April.

Robert Crumb presenting Janet Joplin with Cheap Thrills

2009-03-08T00:00:00.006Z

Drew Friedman. 2009. Cheap Thrills. Pigment ink on heavyweight (310g) natural white rag paper. Image area is 13-3/4" high x 13-5/8" wide on an untrimmed 22" x 17" sheet. Signed "11/30-Cheap Thrills-Drew Friedman" on the bottom. © Drew Friedman.

Drew Friedman did this image of Crumb presenting his Cheap Thrills album cover to Janis Joplin, an incident taking place in 1968. The scene is described here. Friedman is a long time colleague of Crumb, contributed to Weirdo magazine and counts Crumb as his favorite artist. The Friedman technique is ingenious and detailed with masterful daubs of color to simulate a photo. The technical details regarding the print production is here.

A Short History of America

2009-01-11T08:00:00.009Z

Robert Crumb. 2009. Print. A Short History of America. Giclee color print. 24 x 20 inches (paper size) 22 x 15 inches (image size). Limited edition. Signed "59/500" in lower right.

Crumb's iconic drawing of the transformation of America. A fair number of reproductions have been made over the years. It has also been transformed into a YouTube video to the music of Joni Mitchell (whose portrait was done by artist Mary Fleener).

☜Robert Crumb. "A Short History of America." CoEvolution Quarterly. Fall 1979. # 23. pp 21-24.

The original came out as a four page black & white spread in the CoEvolution Quarterly. The answer to "WHAT NEXT?!!" in the last panel is answered almost a decade later in a back cover for an issue of The Whole Earth Review.

There's a black and white YouTube version set to piano music.

Flesh & Blood Comics

2008-10-02T00:00:00.011+01:00

Robert Crumb. 2009. "Flesh and Blood Comics" in point d'ironie. October 2008. No. 45. 12 pages. This came out in an art "newspaper" published by French fashion designer agnès b. The editor is Hans-Ulrich Obrist who wrote a book about Crumb. Some 100,000 free copies were distributed around the world in agnès b. boutiques and other locations. There is also a web version.

point d'ironie n°45

Underground

2008-09-06T05:55:00.007+01:00

Robert Crumb. 2008. [ICA Underground Exhibit]. Poster. 24 x 36 inches. (Original drawing is circa 1968 and appears on the cover of R. Crumb. 1997. Sketchbook. Volume 6 Mid 1968 to Mid '69.

Poster for the Underground exhibit at the Institute of Contemporary Art in the University of Pennsylvania. For details see. The picture used for the poster is from Crumb's 1968-69 sketchbook. It features a trio of happy, round, Renoirish women reminiscent of other joyful big-boned women Crumb has drawn through the years. The back of the poster lists the pieces in the exhibit.

Cheap Thrills

2008-03-20T23:05:00.003Z

Robert Crumb. 2008 (original 1968). Cheap Thrills. Giclee print. Numbered "147/500" in lower right. Paper Size: 23" x 24" Image Size: 17" x 17".

Crumb's iconic Cheap Thrills cover for Janis Joplin and her Big Brother and the Holding Company band second album. Each song is illustrated with a different cartoon. The lettering, drawing, coloring and overall composition are impeccable, showing off Crumb's skills at the peak of his "hippie" period.

Cornélius, une certaine façon de faire les livres

2007-03-23T07:00:00.009Z

Robert Crumb. 2007. Cornélius, une certaine façon de faire les livres. Poster. 25 x 17 inches (framed).

Image for both a poster and book for the French publishing house Cornélius. The poster also advertises a Crumb exhibit held in the French town of Lorient from 23 March - 21 April 2007. The drawing is very similar to the Pepper & Stern Rare Books poster Crumb did some 25 years earlier. There are parallels between the two drawings as both were done for small book-related companies and both were made into book covers and posters. The man looking at the book is presumably Crumb. Unlike the black and white Pepper & Stern poster, the Cornélius one is colored, Crumb's hair and mustache are longer and whiter, he is wearing a robe instead of a jacket and slippers instead of shoes; the second man that was in the Pepper & Stern poster has disappeared, replaced by a stack of books (comparing the two drawings is like one of those games where two pictures are placed side by side and you have to find the differences).

The Cornélius book, entitled "ou l'art de la mouscaille et du pinaillage" outlines its publishing history and features works by a number of artists including several Crumb pieces that it published over the years. An interview with the comics editor of Cornélius is here.

Heeb - The L♥ve Issue

2007-03-21T16:53:00.007Z

Robert and Aline Kominsky Crumb. 2007. The L♥ve "Issue" [Cover]. Heeb, Spring.

Aline and R. Crumb collaborative cover for Heeb magazine. There is also an article about Aline K. Crumb ("Drawn Together-R. Crumb's Beloved Aline Kominsky") on page 48 with an assortment of her work and photos.

Need More Love

2007-02-01T18:11:00.010Z

Aline Kominsky Crumb. 2007. Need More Love: A Graphic Memoir. M Q Publications. Signed "For Michael + Natasha - Aline Kominsky-Crumb 2009" on title page.

Aline Crumb's (Robert Crumb's wife) autobiography. A beautiful honest book, full of her work over the years including cartoons and paintings as well as photos. See Mary Fleener's review. A print was made from the cover.

Aline Kominsky Crumb. 2009. Need More Love. Print. 16 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches. Signed "To Natasha + Michael - Aline Kominsky Crumb March 2009" and numbered "1/25".

Sauvons Sauve!

2007-01-27T03:23:00.015Z

Dave DeMoney. 2007. "Robert Crumb - Sauvons Sauve!" Pétanque & Pastis. January 27.

A blog entry about protests against a mega supermarket planned for the French village Crumb lives in. He did a series of posters for protestors against the supermarket headlined Sauvons Sauve! ("Save Sauve"). One of the posters depicts the lovely medieval village in the background dwarfed by a giant supermarket and parking place. I've been trying to obtain one of the posters for awhile; if anyone knows how I can get one please let me know! [Finally obtained a signed flyer! 4/2010]

Robert Crumb. 1991. "Place du Doyen Gachon" in Vues de Sauve. Portfolio of 8 black & white drawings. 8 1/2 x 11 3/4". Folder title signed "R. Crumb" and "71" (out of 200).

In 1991 Crumb issued a portfolio of eight drawings of different scenes of the French village he moved to. Devoid of people, the illustrations show the extraordinary details of architectural elements such as doors, shutters, gutters, windows, etc.

Mats the Asiaddict

2006-01-01T21:54:00.003Z

Mats!?. 2006. Asiaaddict. Sparkplug Comic Books. Signed "BON VOYAGE MICHAEL 05/07/09 MATS!?" on title page. ISBN: 0974271535. © Mats!?

Mats!? does not really have anything to do with R. Crumb except that they are both cartoonists. I stumbled upon his art and immediately liked it. This book, a cartoon chronicle of his travels to Asia, is insightful, humorous and a bit bizarre. Highly recommended. Part of the pleasure of researching Crumb is finding out about other artists. It's a fun diversion! [Note: I used to have a golden retriever named Mats].

Thanksgiving Special

2004-11-30T02:51:00.002Z

Robert Crumb. 2004. "Thanksgiving Special" [Cover]. The New Yorker, November 29.

The origins of Thanksgiving date back to the early 1600s when the Pilgrims, assisted by the local Indians, celebrated their bountiful harvest. Crumb's stinging cover harks back to this with the portraits of Pilgrims and Indians on the left border. But then it is updated to present day New York, urban, densely packed. In the middle of the cover is a down-and-out Indian looking like he is about to cry wearing a signboard advertising a restaurant's "Thanksgiving Special". The menu is an ode to hip yuppie tastes with range-fed turkey, couscous and even a vegetarian alternative. America seems to have forgotten the origins of the holiday with the poor Indian looking miserable. Crumb draws himself on the right walking towards the left (a political statement?) and looking quite astounded at the scene. The evocation of busy urban New York is sizzling, the details impressive (a discarded cigarette butt on the sidewalk, a large bead of sweat on a man's forehead) and the coloring and overall feel quite different than Crumb's more typical cartoon-like covers. There is also something curious about the people with glasses: you cannot see their eyes.

54th Carnegie International

2004-10-09T08:00:00.006+01:00

Robert Crumb. 2004. Carnegie International. Poster. 22 x 17 inches.

Crumb did the exhibition poster and and had a small retrospective of drawings, strips, and notebooks. The depressing machine people descend from Crumb's 1975 Snarf cover of a happy guy with a self-propelled vehicle (used for the cover of Underground Classics). However unlike the optimistic Snarf cover, the world has turned sour with the machine people vomiting from pollution. The irony of the drawing could not have been lost on the exhibit organizers. Here Crumb pokes fun at steel magnate Andrew Carnegie who the museum is named after, inferring that the hellish scene is a result of the environmentally destructive policies of big business. According to the Crumb Print site, there were 100 copies of this poster made. The drawing is also reminiscent of a sketchbook drawing dated 11 Nov. 2001 entitled "Draw Thru The Pain" that appeared on p. 27 of Mineshaft, #10, January 2003 as well as "We're Lost!" on p. 68 of the Whole Earth Review, #10, Summer 1993.

ARTnews

2004-09-10T16:13:00.001+01:00

In addition to the cover (Self-Portrait with Third Eye, 2001) also has an article: Holmes, Pernilla. 2004. "A Funny Thing Happened to Robert Crumb." ARTnews, September.

Mary Fleener

2004-08-01T21:10:00.004+01:00

Mary Fleener. 2003. Joni Mitchell. Ink on paper. 15 x 11 inches. Signed "FLEENER°03" lower left. © Mary Fleener. Illustration used in Kristine McKenna. 2004. Talk to Her. Fantagraphics. ISBN-10: 1560975709

Mary Fleener, like Crumb, is a cartoonist. Some of their work appears in the same magazines (e.g., Mineshaft). Fleener also reviewed Aline-Kominsky Crumb's Need More Love. The illustration of Joni Mitchell was used in a book of interviews of artists by an LA-based journalist. Mitchell's song "Big Yellow Taxi" music was used in an unofficial YouTube video of Crumb's "Short History of America".

Yeah, but is it ART?

2004-05-28T20:00:00.002+01:00

Robert Crumb. 2004. Yeah but is it ART? [Cover].

In Alfred M. Fischer (editor). 2004. Yeah but is it ART? Museum Ludwig. ISBN: 3883757950

The book accompanying the Crumb exhibit at the Museum Ludwig, Cologne from 28 May to 12 September 2004.

God Wants Me to Draw

2003-07-12T16:06:00.007+01:00

Robert Crumb. 2003. God Wants Me to Draw. Ink and correction fluid on paper, 10 3/8 x 12 inches. Collection of Museum of Modern Art, New York.

This piece acquired by the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York is a sign that Crumb is increasingly accepted as a "legitimate" by the "official" art world. Here is the link to the MOMA catalog for the piece.

The Muse

2003-03-30T02:51:00.011+01:00

Robert Crumb. 2003. "The Muse." The New York Times Magazine. 30 March 2003.

A six page spread in The New York Times Magazine of drawings by Crumb of wife Aline modeling dresses by high-end designers. Shows that Crumb can even depict the world of fashion in a refreshing way compared to polished, glossy photo ads. He even designed a T-shirt for designer Stella McCartney (see the Life magazine photo of Mr. & Mrs. Crumb all dressed up at the launch). Another fashion link is an art newspaper issue dedicated to Crumb published by French designer agnès b.

Mineshaft

2003-01-04T04:31:00.007Z

Robert Crumb. 2003? "Billy the Kid" cover for Mineshaft. January 2003. # 10. First printing. 56 pages. Printed on Strathmore Bordeaux purple cover paper.

A lovely drawing of Billy the Kid typical of Crumb's pictures of folkloric figures. The cover stock is untypical: a kind of silver etching on beautiful hard purple paper. Produced for a small journal for which Crumb has contributed several other covers and articles over the years.

DIE VIELEN GESICHTER DER ROBERT CRUMB

2002-09-30T02:50:00.005+01:00

R. Crumb. 2002. Karikatur Museum. Poster. 60 x 90 cm (23 1/2 by 33").

http://www.karikaturmuseum.at/programm/copy4_of_08/die-vielen-gesichter-der-robert-crumb

Very similar to the FATE magazine cover Bigfoot is Everywhere!

Bigfoot is Everywhere

2000-11-01T16:12:00.004Z

Robert Crumb. 2000. Bigfoot is Everywhere! Poster. 18 x 12 inches (image size 14 3/4 x 11 inches).

This poster is from the cover of an issue for the science fiction magazine FATE. It has its roots in Crumb's Bigfoot drawings of the 1970s (for example see the Berkley art show flyer). A variation shows up as a poster for a Crumb exhibit in Austria. Crumb has done two other covers for FATE.

Qui a Peur de Robert Crumb?

2000-01-27T08:00:00.004Z

Robert Crumb. 1999. Qui a Peur de Robert Crumb? Poster. 23 1/2 by 16 inches.

Crumb did the poster for the annual French comic convention. He was also president and received the festival's Grand Prix the year before.
There is a video by French TV (in French):
http://www.ina.fr/art-et-culture/litterature/video/CAB00004532/bande-dessinee-a-la-recherche-de-robert-crumb-president-du-festival.fr.html

Mercier, Jean-Pierre. 2000. Qui a peur de Robert Crumb? CNBDI. ISBN: 2907848224

Book released on the occasion of the Crumb exhibit. 2000 copies printed.

Sketchbook Reports & Help!

1999-11-01T08:00:00.003Z

Robert Crumb. 2002. Sketchbook Reports. Cornélius.

The Sketchbook Reports reproduce two pieces Crumb did for Help! magazine in 1965 on Harlem and Bulgaria. These are likely the first examples of Crumb's published work.

Crumb, Robert. 1965a. Harlem. A Sketchbook Report. Help!, January.

---. 1965b. Bulgaria. A Sketchbook Report. Help!, July.

CRUMB-ology & Checklist

1998-08-01T18:39:00.003+01:00

Richter, Carl. 1995. CRUMB-ology: The Works of R. Crumb 1981-1994. Water Row Press.
---. 1998. Crumb-ology Supplement Summer 1994 to August 1998. Water Row Books.
Don Fiene. 1981. R. Crumb Checklist. Boatner Norton Press.

These three books are indispensable for any Crumb collector. They painstakinly document his huge output and are organized in a logical way. They also interrelate where the same piece is used in different media. The latest two were compiled by Carl Richter (covering works done between 1981-1994) and build upon the original groundbreaking work by Don Fiene (covering the period through 1981). A fairly comprehensive selection of work done since 1998 is compiled on Uncle Carl's What's New.

Atom Mind

1995-12-01T16:01:00.001Z

The cover of this Winter 1995 edition of Atom Mind is a reproduction of piece drawn in 1992 of an event from 1968. It shows Crumb peddling comics from a baby stroller along with his first wife at hippie ground zero: the intersection of Haight and Ashbury Streets in San Francisco. The caption refers to a "legend was born", presumably the launch of Zap Comix with Crumb sporting a saintly halo. The drawing appeared earlier in the 25th Anniversary Issue of the Whole Earth Review (No. 79, Summer 1993).

Robert Crumb. 1992. "Haight-Ashbury, early '68...and so a legend was born." Cover. Atom Mind. Vol. 4 No 15 (Winter 1995).

Elvis Tilley

1994-02-21T16:08:00.002Z

Robert Crumb. 1994. Elvis Tilley [Cover]. The New Yorker, February 21.

R. Crumb re-imagines Rea Irvin's Eustace Tilley on the magazine's sixty-ninth anniversary. Tilley is the iconic figure that often appears on New Yorker covers. This is Crumb's spin on it: a not very attractive young man with acne, beard stubble, earring reading a flyer for a porno place. Logo on T-shirt and the group of other men all have hats (with advertising) on backwards and earrings—kind of like a youth national costume of today. Eustace Tilley updated to today—even the name is no longer the old-fashioned "Eustace" but the more hip "Elvis". Conveys a sense of aimlessness—not a very happy picture. Necks are long like a giraffe and like the buildings behind—a new species of introverted, self-absorbed youth.

Whole Earth Review 25th Anniversary

1993-06-12T18:22:00.002+01:00

Robert Crumb. 1993. "Unthinkable Futures" cover for Whole Earth Review. Summer 1993. No. 79. 25th Anniversary Edition.

Crumb's depressing future vision where he takes the earth, typically used for the covers of Whole Earth Catalogs and converts it into a sick-looking, puss-oozing, scarred globe. Crumb's third and final cover for CoEvolution Quarterly/Whole Earth Review family (fourth if you include the cover done for the Last Supplement to the Whole Earth Catalog). The issue features four pages of Crumb drawings including the San Francisco Haight-Ashbury Street corner scene reproduced on the cover of an Atom Mind issue.

The World According to Crumb

1992-01-24T00:43:00.001Z

Book published for a Crumb exhibition in Angoulême (France) and several other locations in 1992. The drawing has been used elsewhere (cover of Czech comics revue, cover of BBC DVD "The Confessions of Robert Crumb").

Academy Awards

1991-04-01T01:54:00.007+01:00

Robert Crumb. "R. Crumb, 'The Old Outsider,' Goes to the...Academy Awards." Premiere. April 1991. p. 88.
A four page documentary comic for a film industry magazine chronicling Crumb's visit to the Oscars.

Robert Crumb & Aline Kominsky Crumb. "Me and Harvey." In The New Yorker. 7 June 2004. © 2004 by A. & R. Crumb.

A three page comic strip later chronicles Mr. & Mrs. Crumb's visit to the 57th annual Cannes Film Festival.

War News

1991-03-02T18:30:00.002Z

Robert Crumb. 1991. [Logo]. War News, March 2.
Crumb designed the logo for an anti-war (first Gulf war) newspaper put out by Warren Hinckle.

Seed

1990-03-04T05:26:00.001Z

Poster created for an R. Crumb exhibition at the Modernism Museum.

"Seed", 32 x 17"

The Future according to Robert Crumb

1988-12-07T02:47:00.004Z

Robert Crumb. 1988. "A Short History of America...With Epilogue." Back cover for Whole Earth Review. Winter 1988. No. 61. 20th Anniversary Issue.

Sequel to "A Short History of America" first published in Whole Earth Review's predecessor publication, CoEvolution Quarterly (Fall 1979, #23) and the subject of numerous prints over the years (a print with this epilogue was published by Kitchen Sink Press). The three scenarios: a nightmarish wasteland, a Jetson's funky high-tech or a hippiesh, rural idyll. It looks like he was sort of right on all 3 counts as today's world looks like a mix of the three. Although an extension of Short History of America, the Epilogue also stands on its own. Five years later, Crumb's cover for the Whole Earth Review 25th Anniversary Edition, the pessimistic view seems to have set in. The original "Short History" and "Epilogue" are shown on pages 34-35.

HINCKLE. FREE AT LAST.

1985-01-02T00:00:00.005Z

1985. Hinckle. Free At Last. Cardboard. 21 1/8" X 13 3/4". Signed "R. Crumb" lower right.

An unusual Crumb piece: a cardboard poster that slots into a
newspaper rack. Warren Hinckle was a San Francisco journalist who had a column in the Examiner. He had written a series of articles critical of the SF police and then mayor Dianne Feinstein. A few days after Hinckle penned an article about the arrest of porn star Marilyn Chambers during a city-wide crackdown on topless bars, he was arrested for walking his basset hound, Bentley, without a leash.

A humorous critique of excessive police force. Hinckle is dragged off by three big cops. He cuts an amusing character with his eye patch and long hair. The lines radiating from his head make a halo-like effect, creating a kind of St. Hinckle. His dog Bentley is also carried away. The drawing effectively expresses the ridiculousness of three beefy cops dragging away a harmless journalist and his dog, a microcosm of the widespread resentment felt by the counterculture against authority and the police.

Wild Dog

1985-01-01T00:00:00.005Z

Robert Crumb and Victor Moscoso. 1985. Wild Dog. Poster. 18 x 24 inches.

“You've got it about right, those columns were in the Chronicle and the rack card was to herald my moving from the Chronicle to the rival Examiner. Crumb also did some editorial- cartoon type drawings for the Chronicle to accompany my columns about the absurdity of it it taking 30 cops to bust one naked woman. You should see the "Wild Dogs" poster Crumb did at the time in partnership with cartoonists Dan O'Neill and Victor Moscoso. The "Wild Dogs" poster was commissioned by the Mitchell Brothers, whose O'Farrell Street Theater, which Hunter Thompson called "The Carnegie Hall of sex in America," Feinstein was constantly raiding and where the Chambers bust occured. (Chambers before starring in the Mitchell's porn classic "Beyond the Green Door" was the cover girl model for the Ivory Snow "99 and 44/100 per cent pure" soapboxes. The poster portrays Feinstein as Little Bo Beep with a huge hoop skirt under which the porcine police are beating the shit out of everyone under her undies -- including me. The "Wild Dogs" poster was famously plastered on the marble stall walls of every bathroom, ladies and gents, in San Francisco City Hall...If you want a copy of the poster -- its included in a book I'm just completing called "Who Killed Hunter S. Thompsom" to be published by Last Gasp of San Francisco in June -- (Crumb drew the scene of copy mayhem under Feinstein's hoop skirt.)...

Cheers,

Warren Hinckle

Pepper & Stern Rare Books, Inc.

1984-01-01T16:14:00.004Z

Robert Crumb. 1984. Pepper & Stern Rare Books, Inc. Black & white. 18 x 24 inches. Accompanied by a signed letter of authenticity from the poster’s publisher.

A limited printing of 100 posters illustrated by R. Crumb to promote this antiquarian book selling firm’s rare book catalog; the image was used on the catalog itself as well. The drawing features a self-portrait of Crumb. Documented in Odds & Ends including a "reddish" version on the back cover.

Orpheus Books

1981-01-01T12:00:00.006Z

Robert Crumb. 1981. Orpheus Books. White plastic shopping bag. Around 16 by 9 inches (excluding handle). Adapted from an illustration in Winds of Change, Vol. II No. 11 (June 1981) p. 13 (see Odds & Ends, 1981 page).

“Dear Michael,
I received you letter, today; thank you! I will send out your Winds of Change in the morning. I also included one of my old bags from my bookstore. I used to have a physical shop, and that's where I met Robert Crumb. I instantly liked him... This was 30 years ago, and we are still in touch... Anyhow, he did the drawing on my bag; he actually drew it for an ad in Winds of Change, and I liked it so much that I asked him if I could use it on my bags and business cards, and he gladly consented... I saved several of the bags... so...........................................it's yours to keep. I have the original drawing in a frame, above my kitchen table/work area.
Regards,
Robert Liebman Orpheus Books

Winds of Change

1980-10-31T18:55:00.006Z

Robert Crumb. 1980. Cover for Winds of Change, Vol. II, No.4 (Oct 1980), 12 pp. Halloween Edition. 17 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches (half that length folded).

Crumb was a regular contributor to the alternative newspaper Winds of Change when he lived in Yolo County in northern California. He did a number of covers as well as illustrations inside the paper and also collaborated on the "Everyday Funnies" comic strip with his wife Aline

“The stuff I do for Winds of Change is my good-boy socially conscious responsible side...”—Robert Crumb. "Down Home Crumb." CoEvolutionary Quarterly. Summer 1982. #34. p. 52 (a two page spread on Winds of Change with various Crumb covers for the newspaper.)

Four Winds of Change covers were reprinted in "The Yolo Portfolio" a 150 signed and numbered portfolio released in 1990. There was also an exhibition of some of the Winds of Change work:

“Robert Crumb may have escaped to France, but Yolo County remembers him. The longtime Winters resident, arguably the 20th-century American cartooning equivalent of Jonathan Swift, was an in-house artist for Winds of Change, a Davis alternative paper that was published from 1979-1983. Some 30 of Crumb’s line drawings, originally done for the paper, are on display through Wednesday, May 15, at Art de Vie, 231 E St., Davis.”⎯Jackson Griffith. Newsreview.com. 2 May 2002.

Factory

1978-12-10T08:00:00.001Z

Robert Crumb. 1979. "Factory." Cover for CoEvolution Quarterly, #24, Winter 1979/80.

A controversial cover. The next issue reported 91 letters about the cover-41 against, 31 for and 19 mixed.

High Times

1977-11-01T13:55:00.003Z

Robert Crumb. "High Times Interviews R. Crumb." High Times. November 1977.

Crumb is interviewed by the pro-marijuana magazine High Times. What makes it unique is that the interview is shown as a colored comic strip.

WOODMAN, SPARE THAT TREE!!

1977-08-24T20:00:00.006+01:00

Robert Crumb. "Woodman, Spare That Tree!!" Cover for Fox River Patriot. No. 19 (August 24- September 13, 1977). Format: 32 pages, 11.5 x 17 inch tabloid style newspaper, folded to 8 3/4 x 11.5 inch cover size.

Fox River Patriot was an alternative paper from central Wisconsin co-founded by Crumb colleague Denis Kitchen. According to Crumb, it was one of his favorite papers:

“...a great little local newspaper of exceptional vision is the Fox River Patriot...reading the Fox River Patriot makes me want to move to Wisconsin ...The best local rural-type of paper I know of...”—R. Crumb, The CoEvolutionary Quarterly, Spring 1979, p. 80

This is a colored variation of the original black and white version on the cover of the February 1973 issue of The Mendocino Grapevine which was later made into a 50 edition print in 2007.

Voluntary Simplicity

1977-06-21T08:00:00.000+01:00

Crumb, R. 1977. "Voluntary Simplicity" [Front & back cover]. CoEvolution Quarterly, Summer 1977 No. 14.

The first of two covers done for the Whole Earth spin-off publication The CoEvolution Quarterly. A bright happy homage to women & simplicity (theme of the issue). The orange yellow background adds to the brightness; stylistically the background has three horizontal bands (one third orange, one third yellow and the bottom third brown solid) typical of some other Crumb covers (e.g., The Last Supplement). The front cover features typical big limb Crumb women planting seeds, looking up towards the sun, smiling. The exuberance is contagious and the fertility symbolism on the front cover heavy with females, seeds, planting.
The back cover is men, stereo-typed farmers with baseball hats dancing & entranced by the women on the front. Crumb is being carried off on the back of one of the men heading towards the left, his back to us.
Crumb creates a fine sense of motion through the seeds being thrown through the air, the women slightly off-balance or skipping and the men in their funky dance position. The color, the motion, the cartoon quality and the theme combine to reinforce the happy feeling. Quite unlike many of Crumb's other covers which tend to be somber, questioning, critical and dark.

It's "Red-Tag" Time in the Country

1974-04-01T08:00:00.006+01:00

Robert Crumb. 1974. "It's 'Red-Tag' Time in the Country." Cover for The Mendocino Grapevine. 1-15 April 1974. #16. 17 x 11 3/4 inches (half that length folded).

One of two covers Crumb did for The Mendocino Grapevine, a northern California counterculture tabloid. The drawing depicts the heavy-handed force of the authorities closing down hippie communes for supposed state housing violations. This cover is reproduced in Don Fiene's R. Crumb Checklist (p. 39) as well as a book about the alternative press (David Armstrong, A Trumpet To Arms, p. 200). The other Grapevine cover (see Odds & Ends, 1972 page) Crumb did was also reproduced as a color version for the Fox River Patriot and was also made into an etching.

I obtained this copy of the Grapevine from photographer Nicholas Wilson. He has published photos he took in the 70s in a beautiful book, Mendocino in the Seventies, which he kindly signed. The photos provide a nice context for the Grapevine period. A photo of two cops on page 65 reinforces the Grapevine cover theme; they had come to close down a rock festival based on a new county ordinance. To order the book: http://www.nwilsonphoto.com/book.htm

Nicholas Wilson. 2006. Mendocino in the Seventies. Published by Nicholas Wilson. Signed "For Michael - Nicholas Wilson".

The Last Supplement to the Whole Earth Catalog

1971-03-10T17:37:00.002+01:00

Robert Crumb. 1971. [Cover]. The Last Supplement to the Whole Earth Catalog, March. Also published as an edition of The Realist.

Crumb takes this cover assignment for a "Last Supplement" and makes it a "Last Supper". The Whole Earth Catalog was a counterculture publication launched in the 1960s and this was ostensibly supposed to be its last supplement. Different period stereotypes are present in the colorful drawing, with a purple border at top, a yellow background in the middle and again purple at the bottom. Christ is identified by a yellow halo but the person offering wisdom is long time Crumb character Mr. Natural. There is an oversize African woman, dressed in a tribal skirt that offers a contrast to the other male figures. An orange furred animal is in front of a businessman in a blue suit with a long nose. At one end of the table sits a slick man with a yellow peace medallion around his neck but with a cloud thought containing a dollar sign. A hippie lies stoned on the floor, most likely a victim of the contents of the still smoking pipe in front of him. Another participant has just flown backwards in his chair in the left of the drawing. There is a political overtone with graffiti calling to "FREE BOBBY, ANGELA, JOHN, ALL OTHERS" scrawled on the right wall and "OFF OUR BACKS & the Pig" written on the back of the tee-shirt of the person with their back to the viewer in the center of the drawing. There is also a light-bulb headed caricature holding a rifle standing guard in the lower right. Crumb himself is in the drawing, seated with his head hunched down and back to his in the wooden chair on the right. The lyrics from a Beach Boys song round out the socio-cultural milieu of period. Crumb is acknowledged in the "Drawn by R. "Southpaw" Crumb text at the bottom left; in some versions, his last name was chopped off when the cover was printed.

Cartoon Show, Berkeley

1971-02-03T06:22:00.003+01:00

Flyer issued to advertise one of Crumb's first exhibitions. Widely seen over eBay. Bought mine from Don Donahue of Apex Novelties who states that with the one I have:

"... an expert could see that it was printed by offset lithography and not on a copy machine or a computer printer."