Crumb: A Cartoonist's Life

Crumb: A Cartoonist's Life - Hardcover

$35.00
Sale price  $35.00 Regular price 
Skip to product information
Crumb: A Cartoonist's Life

Crumb: A Cartoonist's Life - Hardcover

$35.00
Sale price  $35.00 Regular price 
Shipping calculated at checkout.

by Dan Nadel (Author)

Named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, the New Yorker

Longlisted for the PEN / Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography

Eisner Award Nominee for Best Comics-Related Book

"A definitive and ideal biography--pound for pound, one of the sleekest and most judicious I've ever read." --The New York Times

A critical darling, Crumb is the first biography of Robert Crumb--one of the most profound and influential artists of the 20th century--whose 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 20th-century America into an instantly recognizable and popular aesthetic. Now, for the first time, Dan Nadel delivers a "gripping and essential account" (The Boston Globe) of how this complicated artist survived childhood abuse, fame in his twenties, more fame, and came out the other side intact.

Braiding biography with "cultural history and criticism...that honors the complexity of [its] subject, even, perhaps particularly, when it gets ugly" (Los Angeles Times), Crumb is the story of a richly complex life at the forefront of both the underground and popular cultures of post-war America. Including forty-five stunning black-and-white images throughout and a sixteen-page color insert featuring images both iconic and obscure "at once nuanced and propulsive" (Times Literary Supplement), Crumb spans the pressures of 1950s suburban America and Crumb's highly dysfunctional early family life; the history of comics and graphic satire; 20th-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 Robert Crumb blazed through it all.

Written with Crumb's cooperation, this fascinating, rollicking book takes in seven decades of Crumb's iconic works, including Fritz the Cat, Weirdo, and his adaptation of The Book of Genesis and "floats Crumb on the rapids of his times" (Harper's Magazine), capturing, in the process, the essence of an extraordinary artist.

Author Biography

Dan Nadel is the Steven and Ann Ames Curator of Drawings and Prints at the Whitney Museum of American Art. His previous books include, It's Life as I See It: Black Cartoonists in Chicago, 1940-1980; Peter Saul: Professional Artist Correspondence, 1945-1976; and Art Out of Time: Unknown Comic Visionaries, 1900-1969. Nadel has curated exhibitions for galleries and museums internationally. 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 lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his family.

Number of Pages: 480
Dimensions: 1.6 x 9.1 x 6.1 IN
Illustrated: Yes
Publication Date: April 15, 2025

Made with care

Great value

Elegant design

Quality materials

Details

Each book is chosen to inspire, entertain, and expand your perspective. Whether you're relaxing or learning something new, it’s made to fit seamlessly into your everyday life.

Shipping & Returns

We strive to process and ship all orders in a timely manner, working diligently to ensure that your items are on their way to you as soon as possible.

We are committed to ensuring a positive shopping experience for all our customers. If for any reason you wish to return an item, we invite you to reach out to our team for assistance, and we will evaluate every return request with care and consideration.

Shop The Full Collection

$100M Leads: How to Get Strangers To Want To Buy Your Stuff - Hardcover

$100M Leads: How to Get Strangers To Want To Buy Your Stuff - Hardcover

$100M Money Models: How To Make Money - Hardcover

$100M Money Models: How To Make Money - Hardcover

$100M Money Models: How To Make Money - Hardcover

$52.47
Sale price  $52.47 Regular price 
$100M Money Models: How To Make Money - Paperback

$100M Money Models: How To Make Money - Paperback

$100M Money Models: How To Make Money - Paperback

$43.72
Sale price  $43.72 Regular price 
$100M Offers: How To Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No - Hardcover

$100M Offers: How To Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No - Hardcover