Covarrubias’ stay in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec gave rise not only to a detailed anthropological study of the region but also to paintings of the local people and customs such as La tehuana (The Woman from Tehuantepec). La tehuana, 1944. Miguel Covarrubias (Mexican). Mexico. Oil on canvas: 29" x 23". Purchased with Funds provided by the Robert J. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation.						5 of 12   Miguel Covarrubias
	MIGUEL COVARRUBIAS, 1904-1957 iguel Covarrubias was a talented caricaturist, writer, painter, and anthropologist. In the early 1920s, Covarrubias illustrated Adolfo Best-Maugard’s manual A Method of Drawing: Tradition, Renaissance, and Evolution of Mexican Art, which was used by schools throughout Mexico. During this same period, Covarrubias drew cartoons of local political and social celebrities for newspapers. Soon his drawings were being published all over Latin America. He moved to New York on a study grant from the Mexican government and became an illustrator for Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. Covarrubias wrote and illustrated several books on a broad range of subjects. His research on the archeology, ethnology, and folk art of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec culminated in the 1946 publication of Mexico South: The Isthmus of Tehuantepec. He curated important exhibitions of pre-Columbian art in Mexico, the United States, and Europe, and was guest curator for the modern art section of Twenty Centuries of Mexican Art, the pioneering exhibition of Mexican art mounted in 1940 by the Museum of Modern Art (New York). The genius of Miguel Covarrubias extended to painting, jewelry, costume design, and Mexican-dance choreography. He assembled one of the most important private collections of pre-Columbian art in Mexico and was an avid collector of folk art. Covarrubias served as one of Mexico's most articulate spokesmen for the beauty and importance of Mexican culture and art.