20 Facts About Miguel Covarrubias

Miguel Covarrubias, known as Jose Miguel Covarrubias Duclaud was a Mexican painter, caricaturist, illustrator, ethnologist and art historian.

Jose Miguel Covarrubias Duclaud was born on 22 November 1904 in Mexico City.

Soon Miguel Covarrubias was drawing for several top magazines, eventually becoming one of Vanity Fair magazine's premier caricaturists.

Miguel Covarrubias's first book of caricatures The Prince of Wales and Other Famous Americans was a hit, though not all his subjects were thrilled that his sharp, pointed wit was aimed at them.

Miguel Covarrubias immediately fell in love with the Harlem jazz scene, which he frequented with Rosa and friends including Eugene O'Neill and Nickolas Muray.

Miguel Covarrubias managed to capture the spirit of the Harlem Renaissance in much of his work as well as in his book, Negro Drawings.

Miguel Covarrubias did not consider these caricatures, but serious drawings of people, music, and a culture he loved.

Miguel Covarrubias did illustrations for George Macy, the publisher of The Limited Editions Club, including Uncle Tom's Cabin, Green Mansions, Herman Melville's Typee, and Pearl Buck's All Men Are Brothers.

Miguel Covarrubias collaborated with Austrian Artist Wolfgang Paalen's journal Dyn from 1942 to 1944.

Miguel Covarrubias returned to Southeast Asia in 1933, as a Guggenheim Fellow with Rosa whose photography would become part of Miguel Covarrubias's book, Island of Bali.

Miguel Covarrubias spent time in China, where his work was very influential among artists in Shanghai.

Rosa and Miguel Covarrubias returned to live in Mexico City where he continued to paint, illustrate, and write.

Miguel Covarrubias taught ethnology at the Escuela Nacional de Antropologia e Historia and was appointed artistic director and director of administration for a new department at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, the National Palace of Fine Arts.

Miguel Covarrubias's mandate was to add an Academy of Dance - a task to which Rosa with her dance and choreography background was most valuable.

Miguel Covarrubias recruited friend and dancer Jose Limon who brought his dance company from New York City for the inaugural season in 1950, taught at Bellas Artes, and helped arrange for international exposure of this new Mexican modern dance company.

In 1952, Miguel Covarrubias had completely separated from Rolanda in pursuit of one of his students, Rocio Sagaon.

Miguel Covarrubias died on 5 February 1957 in Mexico City from sepsis, most likely a complication of his surgery after suffering from an ulcer.

Miguel Covarrubias' style was highly influential in America, especially in the 1920s and 1930s, and his artwork and caricatures of influential politicians and artists were featured on the covers of The New Yorker and Vanity Fair.

Miguel 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.

Miguel Covarrubias shared his appreciation of foreign cultures with the world through his drawings, paintings, writings, and caricatures.