It will finally exhibit the Iturbide Palace show THE CHAMACO Covarrubias announced three years ago
▲ Here, original of the cartoon that was published in Vanity Fair, In 1932, where Princess Marie de Romania is observed and actress Mae West. On the right, fragment of one of the works of Covarrubias inspired by Bali.Photo courtesy of FCB
Review the multifaceted and fascinating career of Miguel THE CHAMACO Covarrubias (1904-1954) is always an exciting task, full of surprises and findings. Defining it only as a cartoonist, illustrator, cartoonist or painter, is limiting. He was also cartographer, set designer, author of valuable contributions to anthropological, ethnographic and museum studies, collector and driving officer of modern dance in Mexico.
In no way is he a forgotten artist, but one who interested, both scholars and contemporary artists, return again and again to offer a new reading of his facets.
Banamex Cultural Promotion (FCB) assumed this task when presenting Miguel Covarrubias: a look without borders, Exhibition announced three years ago by the director of that agency, Candida Fernández (The day, 12/28/22), which will finally be inaugurated on Thursday.
The exhibition, says advertising, explores the life and work of the Mexican creator who He broke molds and crossed borders between disciplines: from art to anthropology, from the theater to editorial design, of illustration to archeology
.
José Miguel Covarrubias Duclaud was born on November 22, 1904 in Mexico City. He studied at the National Preparatory School, which left incomplete to get a job “delineating maps in the Secretariat of Communications; hence the nickname of The shaman ”. At that time he also emerged his caricaturist talent. His drawings stood out for a fine humor and a sharp political criticism of modern society.
Already by 1920 he published his first jobs in Mexican newspapers such as The Illustrated Universal, Fantoche, El Heraldo y The world. He obtained his first book illustrator work by invitation from Adolfo Best Maugard, in 1923, for publication The drawing method, With prologue of the poet and diplomat José Juan Tablada, and conclusion of the Dominican philosopher Pedro Henríquez Ureña, although he only signed one of the 275 illustrations. Collaborated in the mural Latin America, in the former temple of the incarnation, along with Best Maugard and Roberto Montenegro.
By 1923, Covarrubias moved to New York, where he was supported by Tablada, who lived there and who contacted him with the journalistic environment. When relating to the New York elite, he met Frank Crowninshield, director of Vanity Fair, And he began publishing his cartoons and illustrations in the prestigious magazine, thanks to what he consolidated worldwide fame. He also worked on magazines New Yorker y Fortune, and was an illustrator for US publishers.
Dance and movement
In the city of skyscrapers, THE CHAMACO experiment The full boiling of jazz and Afro -Staddense culture of Harlem, aspects that marked strong influences on their artistic plastic
. In 1925 he published The Prince of Wales and other Famous Americans, His first cartoon book, and in 1927 his celebrities Negro Drawings. Although the exaggeration of the form and behavior is one of the distinctives of the cartoon, the images of Covarrubias also have to do with dance and movement.
According to FCB, in his face of book illustrator, the images of Covarrubias They are not a secondary work to the text, but a complement to the conceptual interpretation of each work
.
Married in 1930 with the dancer Rosa Rolanda, the couple spent their honeymoon in Bali, A small volcanic island of Southeast Asia
. One more time, THE CHAMACO He felt captivated by a culture different from his; Then, in 1933 he obtained a scholarship from the Guggenheim Foundation to return to Mouths and draw, paint and perform ethnographic work on the island of Bali.
After returning to New York, the couple moved to Mexico City, since Covarrubias’ parents had inherited a house in Tizapán, San Ángel. The artist spent all 1935 and part of 1936 preparing his book Island of Bali, which includes 114 photographs of the author, five paintings and 90 drawings, in addition to other photographs captured by his wife, Rosa. Published in 1937, the book was a sales success.
According to FCB, thanks to Covarrubias trips through the Pacific, The artist ventured into cartography. Created maps with variations that expressed their vision about the geopolitics of the moment
. These and other cartographic projects will be exposed in A look without borders. ”
In 1939, the artist executed six mural maps, a set entitled Pacific parade, For the Golden Gate International Exhibition in San Francisco, in order to geographically illustrate the richness of Asian and American territory. In Mexico, he made other wall maps; one of them, Mexican popular art geography (1947), in the lobby of the missing Hotel del Prado, and another in 1951, in the former temple of Corpus Christi, on the occasion of the installation of the Popular Arts and Industries Museum, since 2005, historical collection of the General Archive of Notaries.
Another mural of yours, One Sunday afternoon in Xochimilco (1947), was at the Ritz hotel bar. In 1954, Covarrubias made Genesis: The Gift of Life, In the Stewart building in Dallas, Texas.
Back to Mexico, in 1936, his fascination for archeology grew, which became collection of pieces and archive, as well as their teaching and research work. He exercised teaching ethnography at the National School of Anthropology and History. He was director of the Dance School of the National Institute of Fine Arts, as well as coordinator of the Dance Department. During these years, he designed changing rooms and scenographies for ballets such as The Invisible, Tózcatl, Zapata y The hand of God.
When I die, THE CHAMACO He left an unbarkable legacy that transcended borders, whose validity continues to surprise.
Miguel Covarrubias: A look without borders It will open to the public on April 24 at the Citibanamex Palace (Iturbide Palace, Madero 17, Historic Center).