Miguel Covarrubias

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Covarrubias's caricature of himself as an Olmec.
Covarrubias's caricature of himself as an Olmec.

José Miguel Covarrubias (November 22, 1904 Mexico City — February 4, 1957) was a Mexican painter and caricaturist, ethnologist and art historian. Unsatisfied with the start of his career in Mexico, he moved to New York City in 1924, drew for several top magazines, married the dancer Rosa Roland, and lived there until 1932 when he took a trip to Southeast Asia (Java, Bali, India, Vietnam), Africa and Europe as a Guggenheim Fellow, and returned to Mexico City where he taught ethnology at the Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia.

His artwork and celebrity caricatures have been featured in The New Yorker and Vanity Fair magazines. The linear nature of his drawing style was highly influential to other caricaturists such as Al Hirschfeld. Covarrubias also did some wonderful illustrations for The Heritage Press including Uncle Tom's Cabin, Green Mansions, and Pearl Buck's All Men Are Brothers. These editions are very sought after by collectors. He also worked as an illustrator for W.C. Handy's publications. He collaborated in Austrian Artist Wolfgang Paalen's journal Dyn from 1942-44.

Covarrubias is known for his analysis of the pre-Columbian art of Mesoamerica, particularly that of the Olmec culture, and his theory of Mexican cultural diffusion to the north, particularly to the Mississippian Native American Indian cultures. His analysis of iconography presented a strong case that the Olmec predated the Classic Era years before this was confirmed by archaeology. His interest in anthropology went beyond the arts and beyond the Americas -- Covarrubias lived in and wrote a thorough ethnography of the "Island of Bali".

[edit] Bibliography

  • The Island of Bali 1937
  • Mexico South 1946
  • The Eagle, the Jaguar, and the Serpent - Indian Art of the Americas; North America: Alaska, Canada, the United States 1954
  • Mezcala, Ancient Mexican Sculpture, with William Spratling & André Emmerich, 1956
  • Indian Art of Mexico and Central America 1957

[edit] Further reading

  • Copeland, Jonathan in consultation with Ni Wayan Murni (2008). Secrets of Bali, Fresh Light on the Morning of the World. Jakarta: Gateway Books International. 

[edit] External links

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