Overview

The first biography of Robert Crumb--one of the most profound and influential artists of the twentieth century--whose iconic, radically frank, and meticulously rendered cartoons and comics inspired generations of readers and cartoonists, from Art Spiegelman to Alison Bechdel Robert Crumb is often credited with single-handedly transforming the comics medium into a place for adult expression, in the process pioneering the underground comic book industry, and transforming the vernacular language of twentieth-century America into an instantly recognizable and popular aesthetic, as iconic as Walt Disney or Charles Schulz. Now, for the first time, Dan Nadel, a curator and writer specializing in comics and art, shares how this complicated artist survived childhood abuse, fame in his twenties, more fame, and came out the other side intact. More than just a biography of an iconic cartoonist, Crumb is the story of a richly complex life at the forefront of both the underground and popular cultures of post-war America. Crumb spans the pressures of 1950s suburban America and Crumb's highly dysfunctional early family life; the history of comics and graphic satire; twentieth-century popular music; the world of the counterculture; the birth of underground comic books in 1960s San Francisco with Crumb's Zap Comix; the economic challenges and dissolution of the hippie dream; and the path that Robert Crumb blazed through it all. Written with Robert Crumb's cooperation, this fascinating, rollicking book takes in seven decades of Crumb's iconic works, including Fritz the Cat, Weirdo, and his final book-length comic of The Book of Genesis, capturing, in the process, the essence of an extraordinary artist and his times.

Full Product Details

9781797189321

Table of Contents

Reviews

""An artist biography that astutely connects the work to the life story...It works as cultural history and criticism."" -- ""Los Angeles Times"" ""Nadel's book floats Crumb on the rapids of his times...Crumb gives us the reprobate who drew 'Life Among the Constipated' and 'The Family That Lays Together Stays Together, ' as well as the domestic who enjoyed a long, fulfilling marriage to Aline Kominsky-Crumb, his wife and frequent collaborator."" -- ""Harper's magazine"" ""Robert Crumb's signature style has brought life to decades of cultural changes, and here his life's work is paired with his life story."" -- ""Barnes&Noble.com"" ""This alternately rollicking and perceptive biography...[is] a revealing portrait of a little understood American artist and an excellent companion to Terry Zwigoff's 1994 documentary, Crumb."" -- ""Publishers Weekly (starred review)""

Author Information

Dan Nadel is a writer and curator and author of several books. He has curated exhibitions for galleries and museums internationally, including the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, UC Davis, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. He is the founder of PictureBox, a publishing and packaging company that produced over one hundred books, objects, and zines from 2000 to 2014, including the Grammy Award-winning design for Wilco's 2004 album A Ghost Is Born. He is the curator-at-large for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. Rob Shapiro is a musician, writer, voice actor, and Earphones Award-winning narrator. He performed several seasons of radio comedy on Minneapolis Public Radio and voiced the titular lion in Leo the Lion. He is a musician and composer with his critically acclaimed band Populuxe. He is also a business consultant and software system designer.

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