Miguel Covarrubias, the cartoonist that captured the Mexican Revolution

Before the rise of celebrity cartooning past the half of the XX century, Miguel Covarrubias laid the foundations of a style that will remain constantly used in editorial illustrations up until this day. Unique, funny, and full of character, his illustrations portrayed an array of characters from the heroes of the Mexican revolution to the American elite and the diverse cultures of Asia. Having spent all his life on a journey that sent him from Mexico to New York and into Bali, India, Vietnam and China, Covarrubias passed away at the young age of 52 leaving an oeuvre and legacy that inspired a generation of illustrators and defined a style that will continue even to the present day.

Regarding his style, the first thing that came to my mind when I first saw one of his illustrations, was the work of Al Hirschfeld, which clearly was influenced years later by Covarrubias’ work. But it’s incredible to think of this pictorial approach being used in the first decades of the 21st century when style was mainly dominated by graphic loudness and saturation. Even though he was a notable promotor of the Art Deco movement, the character and feel of his illustrations seem somehow separated from that era, managing to capture a more timeless identity.

My favorite pieces of his work are the portraits of the Mexican revolution. He portrayed these legendary characters in a way that seemed friendly and animated in contrast to the crude and complicated reality of what that context really was. His work from Mexico shows the character and heroic nature of its people and the colorful and rich nature of its culture in a unique and timeless way. It’s important to note that these illustrations were made years later, in 1933, after the war was officially over. They were commissioned by American historian Frank Tannenbaum for his book Peace by Revolution. Later on, in the following years, Covarrubias took this particular visual idiom to characterize famous American personalities and other foreign cultures around the world up until his death in 1957.

I don’t intend to go into detail on Covarrubias’ life and accomplishments. I am leaving out the incredible illustration work of the Harlem jazz underworld, his work in Vanity Fair, his books, and his work as a painter and muralist. Rather, I intend to share the genius of an illustrator ahead of his time. When looking at Covarrubias’ work it is easy to think that we are looking at the work of a modern-day illustrator. Of course, nostalgia and retro are so embedded in today’s art that any vintage genre is something of “today”. But I enjoy discovering artworks and creators that break the barriers of their “era” and give us work whose richness and character have no expiration date.

In this short piece, I’m mainly showcasing line drawings and black ink pieces but you can find an extensive and more colorful selection of Covarrubias’ artworks at the following link: http://www.artnet.com/artists/miguel-covarrubias/