{"product_id":"robert-crumb-sketchbook-vol-5-1989-1998","title":"Robert Crumb. Sketchbook Vol. 5. 1989-1998","description":"\u003cp\u003eAs this volume opens we find our hero at age 46, solidly into the \u003cstrong\u003emidlife crises years\u003c\/strong\u003e. Crumb has lived his entire life in anxious, introspective, self-flagellating crises, however, so the middle years bring only a refinement of his lifelong turmoil and further honing of artistic talent. More words accompany the drawings, demonstrating \u003cstrong\u003eCrumb's brilliant powers of observation\u003c\/strong\u003e, as in a long paragraph devoted to an encounter with one of brother Maxon's vegan turds, and a poetic paean to the heartbreak of life and aging. The \u003cstrong\u003efamily's move to Sauve, France\u003c\/strong\u003e, in 1991 is heralded by a switch from portraits of apple-cheeked American girls sketched while waiting for food in California cafes to \u003cstrong\u003eportraits of girls in French cafes\u003c\/strong\u003e, by pastorals of rampant French countryside, and by haunting tableau of homeless beggars in the Metro.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The most notable new character in this sketchbook is a turbaned holy man named, by young Sophie Crumb, \u003cstrong\u003eRoman Dodo\u003c\/strong\u003e, who seems loosely inspired by Robert's brother Maxon. \u003cstrong\u003ePatricia Pig\u003c\/strong\u003e, a cheerful human\/porcine hybrid also debuts, alongside portraits of girlfriends present and past.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e As the artist advances into his mid-50s, towards the end of the volume, \u003cstrong\u003e fantasies of regression to childhood dependence on strong female figures, and even of a good death\u003c\/strong\u003e, carried away on the back of a sturdy young angel, speak less of angst than acceptance of the aging process. Our curmudgeon finds a measure of peace, a certain French acceptance, of the cruel whims of fate. Until the final pages, when he pronounces himself, out of nowhere, \"such a fucking QUEER.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e All in all, \u003cstrong\u003eanother killer volume\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Taschen","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48515873046777,"sku":"9783836566971","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/1811\/7625\/files\/imageloader_9f659abf-c02e-4478-aa25-24bc70f95a9a.jpg?v=1781209468","url":"https:\/\/hookeandplotte.com\/products\/robert-crumb-sketchbook-vol-5-1989-1998","provider":"Hooke and Plotte Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}