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'Bad boy’ cartoonist Robert Crumb is set to take the arts, fashion and publishing world by storm this Spring when his latest book - The R. Crumb Handbook - is launched by London publisher MQ Publications. Bonhams Auctioneers will host the book launch at 101 New Bond Street on Wednesday 16 March 2005.

Described by art critic Robert Hughes as “the Brueghel of the 20th century”, Robert Crumb has become the only sixties counter culture cartoonist to break through into the fine art world and today attracts celebrity collectors such as actor Steve Martin and author Alex Garland.

An exhibition of Crumb’s original drawings will take place at Bonhams’ New Bond Street galleries from 9 – 18 March. This will be followed by his first solo exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery on 30 March, the same week during which Stella McCartney’s design will be previewed.

In addition to the events listed above, Robert Crumb is going to bare all to cult cartoonist Steve Bell at a special Guardian Interview at the National Film Theatre. The creator of Fritz the Cat and Mr. Natural, will also feature in a week-long Guardian G2 supplement special, beginning 7 March. From March 16-22, the NFT will be screening a special season of films related to Crumb including American Splendor and Terry Zwigoff’s acclaimed documentary Crumb, creating a nearly month-long celebration of the famed counter-culture cartoonist and his work.

Bonhams’ Director of Modern & Contemporary Art, Howard Rutkowski, says “I used to hide Zap Comix under my bed, so my mother wouldn’t find them. To see Crumb being honoured today by The Establishment is amazing reassurance that the alternative and subversive flag continues to fly.”

Written by Crumb and his close friend, Peter Poplaski, the 400-page hardback Handbook includes hundreds of drawings, cartoons, photographs, a free CD of Crumb music and material from his personal archives previously unseen by the public and media.

The Robert Crumb Handbook is the most comprehensive presentation to date of the life, trials and ideas of one of the most influential artists of the last 40 years. MQ Publications’ CEO Zaro Weil says: “This is biography as it ought to be - relevant and enlightening. Crumb explains late 20th century popular culture in a way that is as accessible to the lay reader as it is engaging for the cultural critic. Hilarious, challenging and acidly satirical, anyone with an interest in graphic history, contemporary art and the post war consumer boom should read it.”

For more details visit the Bonhams web site.