R. Crumb’s dream diary

Unprecedented insight into the untamed art and psyche of R. Crumb

For more than 40 years, legendary American artist Robert Crumb has documented his nightly dreams in a meticulously kept private journal. This material has stood as a guarded secret in a career defined by an impish compulsion to publically self-disclose. All of the artist’s well-documented preoccupations are present and accounted for―rampant egomania, insatiable lust, profound self-disgust, the sad beauty of old America, the moral bankruptcy of new America and the fool’s errand quest for spiritual enlightenment―but here they are entirely untamed, springing forth from forces beyond even his control. Published for the first time, the complete Dream Diaries offer readers a deep, dark look under the hood of one of America’s most aggressively dynamic comedic voices.

Widely considered the greatest cartoonist of the 20th century, Robert Crumb (born 1943) drew comics from a very young age. After a brief career in greeting-card design in Cleveland, in 1965 the young artist discovered LSD, and headed for San Francisco, where he published Zap Comix 1, reinventing the comics medium. In 1994 he was the subject of an acclaimed documentary film by Terry Zwigoff. His adaptation of The Book of Genesis was published in 2009 and the original art for the project was exhibited internationally, most notably at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, in 2009, and as part of the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013. His most recent books include Bible of Filth, Art & Beauty Magazine and (with Aline Kominsky-Crumb) Drawn Together. Crumb lives and works in Southern France.