Collectors of illustrator R. Crumb's work prize the music-oriented trading card sets he created in the 1980s. Now they appear together for the first time in book form, along with a CD of music selected and compiled by Crumb himself.
This little book transcends geographical, social, and economic boundaries to search the heart and soul of the blues, looking for rules to live by, hope for the downtrodden, cautionary tales for the good times, and truths that "hurt so good". Sometimes, you just gotta be blue. But, as this book goes to show, that's okay--because you're never alone.
This exclusive collection of haunting images of people and places reveals the tender side of R. Crumb, a 1960s counter-culture artist who broke into the fine art world with great acclaim.
A collection of cartoonist Crumb's work, ranging from his earliest comics published in the mid sixties, to work completed in the nineties with his comentaries interspersed thoughout the book.
A landmark work that pays splendid homage to a forgotten era of seminal American music. Robert Crumb first began drawing record covers in 1968 when Janis Joplin, a fellow Haight Ashbury denizen, asked him to provide a cover for her album Cheap Thrills. It was an invitation the budding artist couldn't resist, especially since he had been fascinated with record covers-particularly for the legendary jazz, country, and old-time blues music of the 1920s and 1930s-since he was a teen. This early collaboration proved so successful that Crumb went on to draw hundreds of record covers for both new artists and largely forgotten masters. So remarkable were Crumb's artistic interpretations of these old 78 rpm singles that the art itself proved influential in their rediscovery in the 1960s and 1970s. Including such classics as Truckin' My Blues Away, Harmonica Blues, and Please Warm My Weiner, Crumb's opus also features more recent covers done for CDs. R. Crumb: The Complete Record Cover Collection is a must-have for any lover of graphics and old-time music.
Skip James (1902–1969) was perhaps the most creative and idiosyncratic of all blues musicians. Drawing on hundreds of hours of conversations with James himself, Stephen Calt here paints a dark and unforgettable portrait of a man untroubled by his own murderous inclinations, a man who achieved one moment of transcendent greatness in a life haunted by failure. And in doing so, Calt offers new insights into the nature of the blues, the world in which it thrived, and its fate when that world vanished.
Rumored for years, Drawn Together finally charts the daily exploits and erotic craziness of this “First Couple” of comics. Who could have imagined that in 1972, when Aline Kominsky, a Long Island escapee and bodaciously talented artist, broke her foot one rainy fall day, it would result in the most unique collaboration in comics history? Laid up in her house, she was persuaded by R. Crumb, her nerdy, neurotic boyfriend, to pass the time drawing together a “two-man” comic. The result is a jaw-dropping yet tender account, not only of the joys and challenges of a legendary marriage but also of the obstacles faced by struggling female artists. In Drawn Together, our foremost male-female cartooning couple recall their success at shocking America with Weirdo Magazine, the life-altering birth of their precocious daughter Sophie, and their astonishing move to the safe haven of France. With an irresistible introduction and a striking four-color section, Drawn Together becomes a graphic cause-célebre and a must-have for any comics devotee.
Spanning the most important part of his life, from the painful formative years of his early adolescence to the fame and fortune of his adulthood, this collection of underground giant Robert Crumb's personal correspondence sheds light on the artistic development, bitter struggle, and ultimate triumph of the greatest cartoonist of the 20th century. A powerful literary view into the mind of an artisic genius, and an entertaining read even for those few not familiar with Crumb's legendary body of work. The most exciting publishing event of the year.
The R.Crumb Handbook tells the story of how a loser-schmuck became a culturalcon, and is more than just another celebrity tell-all sexploitation. Thisrand new hardback collection of original cartoons with never beforeublished work, takes the reader on a unique journey through the life andimes of one of the 20th century's most notorious and influential counterulture artists.;"Crumbs material comes out of a deep sense of the absurdityf human life." - Robert Hughes, Art Critic;The only underground cartoonisto be accepted by the fine art world, the R.Crumb Handbook is divided intohe four enemies of man: FEAR; CLARITY; POWER; OLD AGE;Working with his oldrinking buddy and co-author Pete Poplasky, the four chapters are easilyigested. With over 400 pages of cartoons and photographs, Crumb's oftenontroversially-regarded views toward Disneyland, growing up in America,ippie love, art galleries, and turning 60 are revealed.;By tracing hisevelopment as a cartoonist from his tormented childhood in the 1940s througho his coming of age as an artist in the psychedelic revolution of the 1960s,