Attempted Bloggery: R. Crumb

Showing posts with label R. Crumb. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 1, 2026

R. Crumb: A Sketchbook Page from April 1, 1962

A sketchbook page of yellow lined paper was drawn upon by R. Crumb on April 1, 1962 and sold at Heritage Auctions on November 21, 2003. The unrelated sketches on the right side of the page, as it originally was bound, are undated.

The other side of the page bears the date and a self-portrait of Crumb drawing an interior on the sketchbook page we are looking at. Heritage gave it the title April Fool and called it an "infinity" piece, but I think that's a stretch on both counts. Or is the joke on me?

R. Crumb
Heritage Auctions listing of November 21, 2003

https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/sketches/robert-crumb-original-sketches-april-fool-1962-you-ll-feel-foolish-if-you-pass-up-this-cool-infinity-piece-by-crumb-from-april/a/808-5567.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515

R. Crumb
Heritage Auctions item description

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Thursday, January 30, 2025

The 1945 Eustace Tilley Printing Plates: "Covering The New Yorker"

The exhibition "Covering The New Yorker" is currently on view at L'Alliance New York. The show is curated by art editor Françoise Mouly and co-curated by Rodolphe Lachat in celebration of the magazine's centennial. The display focuses on original cover art that has appeared over the past thirty years under this art editor's tenure, as the signage at the entrance makes clear. Still, there are some surprises in store, including the copper plates used to print color separations of the cover of the 1945 anniversary issue.

Icon

Christoph Niemann

Eustace Tilley: The Face of The New Yorker

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Sunday, February 5, 2023

The Art of the Redraw: Gahan Wilson's Book Store

A redraw by Gahan Wilson is being offered for sale by Argosy Book Store of New York. Redraws of cartoons typically come about when an original published drawing has been sold, given away, lost even—or perhaps the artist simply doesn't wish to part with it—but a buyer nevertheless wants to have a handmade copy. Here we know the original art was still in Wilson's possession. It seems the first drawing was commissioned by Pepper & Stern Rare Books, perhaps for a catalogue, as the firm's name appears reversed in the front window. (After all, that firm did once obtain art from R. Crumb for a book catalogue cover.) The redraw was created for James Low Autographs, and it is that shop whose name now appears reversed in the window.

"That? Oh, that's a leftover from more thoughtful days, I'm afraid!"
Original cartoon art
Gahan Wilson

The photograph of Wilson that accompanies the item shows both versions of the cartoon. Wilson is wearing a convention badge. The new drawing is similar enough to have been made with the use of a light box.

Argosy's listing calls this item a custom version of a New Yorker cartoon. I am unable to confirm this.

Gahan Wilson
AbeBooks listing accessed February 4, 2023

https://www.argosybooks.com/pages/books/311899/gahan-wilson/original-signed-cartoon-james-lowe-autographs-new-york-custom-version-of-new-yorker-cartoon

Note: The art by R. Crumb for Pepper & Stern's 1984 catalogue and poster may be seen here.

Gahan Wilson's cartoon must have been published in order for James Lowe to have seen it. Was it in a Pepper & Stern catalogue, as I conjecture? Was it in The New Yorker, as the Argosy Book Store knowingly asserts? Either way, I'd like to hear about it.

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Saturday, June 11, 2022

R. Crumb: Looking for Work

Today it's hard to remember a time when underground comix artist R. Crumb's work was not in demand. But in the early 1960s, a still unknown Crumb living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan was looking for a job. He asked Harvey Kurtzman of Mad magazine renown to forward a handwritten request for help to author and illustrator Shel Silverstein. In his letter, Crumb pleaded with Silverstein for his assistance in soliciting some business for him from Playboy's publisher Hugh Hefner. Kurtzman forwarded Crumb's letter after penning his own above it in which he pushes Silverstein to talk to Hefner about bringing Crumb out to Chicago. As it happens, the Playboy prospect was not to work out, but in retrospect, just looking at the exasperated bird he drew at the bottom of the letter, it's hard to imagine Crumb not finding some path to success.

R. Crumb
AbeBooks listing accessed June 5, 2022

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=30314694723&searchurl=kn%3DR.%2BCrumb%26sortby%3D1&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-image7

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Saturday, August 17, 2013

Bookplate Signed and Numbered by R. Crumb

Using a signed and numbered bookplate as a substitute for a printed limitation page strikes one as an intentionally unimpressive way to create a limited edition book. Many limited editions use expensive and exquisite materials to create fine examples of the bookmaker's art. The limited edition of Volume 5 of R. Crumb's Sketchbook, on the other hand, differs from the standard trade edition only by the presence of a bookplate, and not an especially appealing one at that.

Crumb, as a counterculture icon, faces a dilemma. He might not be comfortable being associated with a lavish, limited-edition book which some might consider elitist. He does wants to be commercial, but he deliberately wants his commercialism to feel a bit crass and perhaps self-mocking. Hence we find the relatively cheap bookplate adorning the limited edition book.

R. Crumb, Sketchbook, Volume 5: Late 1967 & Early 1968, Front Cover.

The R. Crumb Sketchbook, Volume 5
Limitation bookplate No. 245 of 400 signed by R. Crumb.

Mr. Natural, Fatback & Thin Gruel, Little Girl

Crumb deliberately may choose sketchbook cover images for their inappropriateness or offensiveness.

Boing: The Magazine that Flips You Out! and Gingerbread Princess

Mickey Mouse, Abie the Agent

True Congestions, "If Ya Wanna Be a Top Banana, Ya Gotta Start At the Bottom of the Bunch!"

"I'm a physical being!"

R. Crumb's Funny Book, One Way

Street Corner Comics, The Grabbies are Coming!

Holy Toledo Comics

Fun Fact: R. Crumb is never mistaken for David Mamet

True Romances

Back Cover

R. Crumb, The R. Crumb Sketchbook, Volume 5: Late 1967 & Early 1968, Front Cover

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-SIGNED-R-CRUMB-Sketch-Book-Vol-5-Limited-Edition-245-of-400-/390572055319?pt=Antiquarian_Collectible&hash=item5aefe89b17

March 17, 2014 Update:

Note: See my previous posts on R. Crumb here if you dare.

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Saturday, April 6, 2013

Book Review: R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz, & Country

R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz, & Country

A love of music should be a blessing to cartoonists. The hours spent at the drawing board pass very pleasantly with music, and one can be endlessly inspired by artists working in an altogether different medium.

R. Crumb's musical tastes are legendary. He has an abiding love of blues, jazz, and country music. He possesses a large record collection with many obscure 78's. Back around 1980 he illustrated three sets of trading cards featuring his favorite musical performers. The illustrations are based on old photographs, many of them as obscure as the music.

Crumb uses his celebrity to popularize some of his musical heroes. His appreciation of them is absolutely authentic. Crumb is evidently more popular than ever since Terry Zwigoff's documentary was released, and in 2006 these three sets of trading cards were published in book form by no less than Harry N. Abrams. I doubt that there would be much interest in this sort of project if not for Crumb's participation.

The blues and country artists are totally unknown to me outside of this book. I don't have the companion CD, so for now they will remain unknown. The descriptions provided give tantalizing hints of their fine musicianship.

The early jazz greats, here depicted in watercolor and not Pantone, are less obscure. Almost a third of them are known to me and I can vouch, along with R. Crumb, for their greatness.