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Crumb\u2019s work was influenced by earlier cartoonists such as Disney\u2019s Carl Banks, the cross-hatch pen-and-ink realism of the German Renaissance artist Albrecht Durer, and Harvey Kurtzman, founder of Mad Magazine, the humorous and satirical publication that started as a comic book in 1952.<\/p>\n
Rose says he discovered Crumb\u2019s comic art in 1967 while visiting friends in Berkeley, California, a time and place where America\u2019s counterculture in music, politics, art, and social behavior was gaining national attention.<\/p>\n
\u201cI liked [Crumb\u2019s] philosophy. I liked the kind of stuff that was social-political and it interested me in the way I was interested in Dylan and listening to Marvin Gaye at Motown,\u201d Rose says. \u201cI found that Crumb was on that parallel, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rose collected signed prints, individual comic books, compilations of comic strips and sketches, filmed interviews with the artist, and sculptural items depicting Mr. Natural. While teaching at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, students he advised came to know his interest in Crumb\u2019s art. They presented him with the coffee table book \u201cThe Art of R. Crumb\u201d as a gift, saying they wanted to encourage his interest in collecting works by the artist.<\/p>\n
\u201cI began to think I was becoming a collector,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
At one point, Crumb began a dialogue with collectors of his work to determine whether to use one panel or two panels for a drawing of the unreliable holy man Mr. Natural and his neurotic disciple, Flakey Foont.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one panel piece ends, kind of OK. The second panel piece ends with, \u2018But I don\u2019t want to die.\u2019 Mr. Natural says, \u2018Get Over it,\u2019 \u201d Rose says. \u201cI loved that so much. I voted for the second panel. I was in the minority, but Crumb created 20 of them for those us who voted for the second panel. That\u2019s as close as I\u2019ve gotten to meet him.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the exhibition, the framed cover art of \u201cCheap Thrills,\u201d\u00a0 in vinyl and compact disc versions, is prominent as visitors enter. Rose says Crumb\u2019s original design for the album cover was a portrait of Joplin performing with a microphone and displaying a tattoo on her right arm saying, \u201cSouthern Comfort,\u201d but the singer did not like it. She told Crumb to develop another idea by the next morning or she would seek a new artist.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe stayed up all night and created that iconic cover for Cheap Thrills,\u201d Rose says of the famous work, which also served as liner notes for the recording that includes all the song titles and credits for musicians, songwriters, and production.<\/p>\n
Rose notes that by the 1980s, Crumb felt his work was being seen as limited because of his close association with the underground comix style and his themes of graphic sex, sexism, and violence. However, a 1994 documentary film by Terry Zwigoff called “Crumb” revived interest in the artist, who has subsequently produced acclaimed work like a graphic novel biography of Franz Kafka, and an unabridged, illustrated edition of the Book of Genesis.<\/p>\n
Rose says the exhibition has provided him with a unique opportunity to enjoy his collection of Crumb\u2019s art.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of giddy to see the pieces together like a family,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve seen everything on a wall. I can\u2019t fit everything I have on my walls at home. It\u2019s kind of joyous to see the pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among the items on display:<\/p>\n
\u2022 An array of Zap Comix, including a serigraph of Zap #1
\n\u2022 Covers of \u201cWeirdo\u201d magazine
\n\u2022 \u201cThe Book of Genesis: All 50 Chapters\u201d
\n\u2022 A serigraph of Fritz the Cat
\n\u2022 Portraits of blues musicians from \u201cR. Crumb\u2019s \u201cHeroes of Blues, Jazz & Country\u201d
\n\u2022 \u201cLet\u2019s Talk Sense About This Here Modern America\u201d
\n\u2022 \u201cKeep on Truckin\u201d poster
\n\u2022 Portrait of Franz Kafka
\n\u2022 Video interview with Dale AJ Rose, discussing the collection<\/p>\n