R. Crumb  (American, 1943) 

R. Crumb (American, b.1943) is a satirist, comic artist, and illustrator. Born Robert Crumb in Philadelphia, PA, Crumb was the third of five children. Motivated by older brother Charles’s interest in comics and drawing, Crumb developed his skills in illustrating and cartooning beginning at a young age. As an adolescent, he was inspired by the work of Harvey Kurtzman (American, 1924–1993), to whom Crumb sent an early rendering of his Fritz the Cat cartoon in the 1960s. Working at Help! magazine at the time, Kurtzman admitted that while he enjoyed the cartoon, it could be problematic for the magazine to print it due to its content; he did, however, eventually print Fritz the Cat in the publication. The Fritz the Cat series appeared until shortly after Ralph Bakshi’s 1972 animated film adaptation. Crumb’s other widely-recognizable and popular creations are Keep on Truckin’, showing various men strutting through different landscapes and settings, and Mr. Natural, a mystic, bearded guru, thought to represent the optimistic spirit of the 1960s. Both comics were introduced in 1967. Crumb himself is frequently described as a misanthrope and a perpetual malcontent. His illustrations and comic strips are humorously irreverent, often sexually explicit, and admittedly influenced and inspired by hallucinations and drug use. Crumb’s own preference for large, muscular women is evident by their repeated appearance in his work, and his drawings are often perceived as expressions of his own sexual fantasies and desires. Robert Crumb and his family are the subjects of Terry Zwigoff’s 1995 documentary, Crumb. Crumb’s illustrations and artwork have been exhibited at a variety of museums and galleries, including the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, the Society of Illustrators in New York, and the Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Culture Center in Los Angeles.