Ink on paper, framed. Featuring Fritz the cat. Signed in ink R. Crumb on the lower right corner. 11.5 x 15 cm (4.5 x 5.9 inches), frame: 20 x 25 cm (7.9 x 9.8 inches). PROVENANCE: Southern Ontario estate.

Robert Crumb (American, born 1943) is a contemporary American satirist, comic artist, and illustrator. Best known for his expressive and highly stylized pen-and-ink drawings, Crumb unapologetically skewers sex, religion, race, and contemporary American culture. He is frequently described as a misanthrope and a perpetual malcontent, with his work being humorously irreverent, often sexually explicit, and admittedly influenced and inspired by hallucinations and drug use. A major figure in the underground comix movement of the late 20th century, the artist was born on August 30, 1943 in Philadelphia, PA to a poverty-stricken and troubled family life. He spent his youth producing illustrations for comic books, greeting cards, and bubblegum cards, finally finding creative success in the late 1960s. Crumb's oeuvre is extensive, and his work is recognized as a major cultural zeitgeist spanning over half a century. Some of his most famous and recognizable characters and series, including Fritz the Cat, Keep on Truckin’, and Weirdo, have garnered serious critical acclaim, resulting in honors and awards including a major retrospective at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia in 2008, reception of a Harvey Special Award for Humor in 1990, and induction into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1991. Crumb lives and works in a small village near Sauve in southern France.

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