Editing Robert Crumb (section)

== Style ==
[[File:Robert Crumb 2010.jpg|thumb|left|Crumb in 2010]]
As told by Crumb in his [[Crumb (film)|biographical film]], his artwork was very conventional and traditional in the beginning. His earlier work shows this more restrained style. In Crumb's own words, it was a lengthy drug trip on [[Lysergic acid diethylamide|LSD]] that "left him fuzzy for two months" and led to him adopting the surrealistic, [[psychedelic art|psychedelic]] style for which he has become known.<ref>''The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book'', p. 67</ref>

A peer in the underground comics field, [[Victor Moscoso]], commented about his first impression of Crumb's work, in the mid-1960s, before meeting Crumb in person: "I couldn't tell if it was an old man drawing young, or a young man drawing old."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tcj.com/|title=The Comics Journal|first=Tucker|last=Stone|access-date=May 8, 2020}}</ref> Robert Crumb's cartooning style has drawn on the work of cartoon artists from earlier generations, including [[Billy DeBeck]] ([[Barney Google and Snuffy Smith|Barney Google]]), [[C. E. Brock]] (an old story book illustrator), [[Gene Ahern]]'s comic strips, [[Basil Wolverton]] ([[Powerhouse Pepper]]), [[George Baker (cartoonist)|George Baker]] (''[[Sad Sack]]''), [[Ub Iwerks]]'s characters for animation, [[Friz Freleng]]'s drawings for the early ''[[Merrie Melodies]]'' and ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' of the 1930s, [[Sidney Smith (cartoonist)|Sidney Smith]] (''[[The Gumps]]''), [[Rube Goldberg]], [[E. C. Segar]] ([[Popeye]]) and [[Bud Fisher]] (''[[Mutt and Jeff]]''). Crumb has cited [[Carl Barks]], who illustrated Disney's "Donald Duck" comic books, and [[John Stanley (cartoonist)|John Stanley]] (''[[Little Lulu]]'') as formative influences on his narrative approach, as well as [[Harvey Kurtzman]] of [[Mad (magazine)|''Mad'']] Magazine fame.

Fellow underground cartoonist [[Art Spiegelman]] remarked that upon meeting Crumb for the first time and seeing his work, he became 'satisfied' that Crumb would do all the revolutionary things in comics that he had initially hoped to do himself.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sauer |first=Jess |date=2009-11-24 |title=R. Crumb and Art Spiegelman Talk Comics |url=https://therumpus.net/2009/11/24/r-crumb-and-art-spiegelman-talk-comics/ |access-date=2025-03-30 |website=The Rumpus |language=en-US}}</ref> He also called Crumb "one of the world’s greatest cartoonists ever."<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Crumb/Dan-Nadel/9781982144005 |title=Crumb |date=2025-04-15 |isbn=978-1-9821-4400-5 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250116180022/https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Crumb/Dan-Nadel/9781982144005 |archive-date=January 16, 2025 |access-date=March 30, 2025 |url-status=live }}</ref>

After issues 0 and 1 of ''Zap'', Crumb began working with others, of whom the first was [[S. Clay Wilson]]. Crumb said, about when he first saw Wilson's work "The content was something like I'd never seen before,&nbsp;... a nightmare vision of hell-on-earth&nbsp;..."  And "Suddenly my own work seemed insipid&nbsp;..."<ref>''The Art of S. Clay Wilson'', Ten Speed Press, 2006, p. vii.</ref>

Crumb remains a prominent figure, as both artist and influence, within the [[alternative comics]] milieu.  He is hailed as a genius by such comic book talents as [[Jaime Hernandez]], [[Daniel Clowes]], [[Chris Ware]], [[Seth (cartoonist)|Seth]], [[Joe Sacco]] and [[Peter Bagge]]. Other cartoonists who have praised or cited Crumb's work as an influence include [[Hergé]], [[Will Eisner]], [[Jean Giraud|Moebius]], [[Carl Barks]], [[Charles M. Schulz]], [[Lynda Barry]] and [[Alison Bechdel]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Books about Tintin and Hergé |url=https://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Books-about-Tintin-and-Herge-3278501.php |website=SFGate|date=December 13, 2009 |last1=Ivry |first1=Benjamin }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Newland |first=Dan |date=2021-03-09 |title=Review of R. Crumb by David Stephen Calonne |url=https://www.comicbookyeti.com/post/r-crumb |access-date=2025-03-30 |website=Comic Book Yeti |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-04-13 |title=Cult American cartoonist Robert Crumb on show at Paris' Modern Art Museum |url=https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20120413-cult-american-cartoonist-crumb-show-paris-modern-art-museum |access-date=2025-03-30 |website=RFI |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bors |first=Chris |date=2017-05-12 |title=Will Eisner |url=https://www.artforum.com/events/will-eisner-230715/#:~:text=Eisner%20reinvented%20himself%20in%20the,full%20depths%20of%20his%20imagination. |access-date=2025-03-30 |website=Artforum |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Miller |first1=M. H. |last2=Montamat |first2=Thibault |date=2022-09-15 |title=R. Crumb Means Some Offense |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/15/t-magazine/r-crumb.html |access-date=2025-03-30 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-15 |title=Crumb on Others - Part Two |url=https://crumbproducts.com/blogs/news/crumb-on-others-part-two |access-date=2025-03-30 |website=Crumb Products |language=en}}</ref>

The art critic [[Robert Hughes (critic)|Robert Hughes]] called Crumb "the [[Pieter Bruegel the Elder|Brueghel]] of the last half of the [[20th century|twentieth century]]" and "the one and only genius the [[1960s]] underground produced in [[Visual arts|visual art]], either in [[United States|America]] or [[Europe]]."<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Crumb |first=R. |date=1995-04-16 |title=COMIC STRIPPED: HEAD FOR THE HILLS |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1995/04/24/comic-stripped-head-for-the-hills |access-date=2025-03-31 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2005-03-07 |title=Roll right up, folks! |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/mar/07/robertcrumb.comics1 |access-date=2025-03-31 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Comic critic Andrew D. Arnold, writing for [[Time (magazine)|Time Magazine]], stated that "Crumb’s impact on his field, as well as his longevity as a crucial artist, rivals that of [[Pablo Picasso|Picasso]]."<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Arnold |first=Andrew D. |date=2003-11-21 |title=A Graphic Literature Library |url=https://time.com/archive/6912244/a-graphic-literature-library/ |access-date=2025-03-31 |magazine=TIME |language=en}}</ref>

In the fall of 2008, the [[Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia|Institute of Contemporary Art]] in [[Philadelphia]] hosted a major exhibition of his work, which was favorably reviewed in ''[[The New York Times]]''<ref name="NYT08">[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/05/arts/design/05crum.html Mr. Natural Goes to the Museum], September 5, 2008, [[The New York Times]]</ref> and in ''[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]''.<ref>[http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/music/20080831_Out_from_underground.html Out from underground], August 31, 2008, ''[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]''</ref>