R. Crumb’s Underground

R. Crumb, a pioneer of underground “comix” and founder of Zap Comix, has been key to the dramatic transformation of comic books into an adult literary form. Cultural critic and lifelong student of human nature, Crumb tackles in his art issues and obsessions that bubble beneath society’s surface: sex, drugs, race, violence, and government repression. His comics are populated by a cast of characters based on American archetypes—Flakey Foont, Angelfood McSpade, Devil Girl, Mr. Natural, Fritz the Cat, and even a cartoon version of Crumb himself— who testify to the complexities of the human condition and to the spiritual and social searches we all undertake.

Born in Philadelphia in 1943, Crumb spent a great deal of his youth creating homemade comics with his older brother Charles. In the 1960s, while working as a commercial illustrator in Cleveland, Crumb submitted individual and collaborative drawings to fanzines and underground newspapers. Energized by the success of these early artistic experiences, he moved in 1967 to San Francisco, the center of the countercultural movement. In 1968 he self-published the first issue of Zap Comix, the popularity of which made him a cult figure in the burgeoning underground comix scene. Zap soon included the work of other cartoonists, including Rick Griffin, Victor Moscoso, and S. Clay Wilson, and later Gilbert Shelton, Spain Rodriguez, and Robert Williams, now icons in the field.

Although Crumb began his career as staunchly anti-establishment and critical of high art, he has slowly accepted the attention of the official art world, selling his artwork through art galleries and contributing cartoons to mainstream publications such as the New Yorker. His work received worldwide attention in Terry Zwigoff’s documentary Crumb (1994), and a 2003 retrospective at the Ludwig Museum in Cologne.

The most comprehensive U.S. exhibition of Crumb’s work to date, R. Crumb’s Underground showcases forty years of the artist’s cultural contributions. It highlights the important role collaboration has played throughout Crumb’s career, including during his youth as part of the San Francisco comic book underground, and with his wife, cartoonist Aline Kominsky-Crumb.