Miguel Covarrubias
Mexican, 1904 - 1957The Lindy Hop, 1936
Not on view
Lithograph on paper
Dimensions16 × 11 1/2 in. (40.6 × 29.2 cm)
Image: 12 7/8 × 9 5/8 in. (32.7 × 24.4 cm)
Gift of Mr. Jack B. Pierson, 1989.33
Happily for the quality of his work and for its enjoyment, Covarrubias has never attempted a sharp distinction between his popular cartoons and his serious work. Famous at eighteen, contributing illustrations to Vanity Fair and to Vogue work, the artist never fell into a technical rut or a mental routine. Stylistically, it is easy to unearth clues to the architectural, mural, and cubist influences through which he grew. His talents are diverse as his influences, for Covarrubias abandoned his own visual art to study that of his own culture, publishing and lecturing on comparative indigenous cultures. Before his death in 1950, he took the position as head of the Department of Dance at the National Institute of Fine Arts in Mexico City, a love for the performing arts evidenced much earlier in his career in the subject of The Lindy Hop.
