Miguel Covarrubias was an amazing, talented individual.
When he stopped doing caricature work, he became an anthropologist.
And he was a good anthropologist.
But it was caricature work and particularly his work in New York in the 1920s that made
a name for Covarrubias.
He drew the Harlem Renaissance.
He drew New Yorkers on Broadway.
He also drew famous Americans from all walks.
Typical of his work is this piece in the NPG collection, which is a Covarrubias caricature
of President Calvin Coolidge.
What we see in this caricature of Calvin Coolidge from 1925 is Covarrubias depicting the president
and having a little bit of fun at the president's expense.
It's not really insulting but again we see this very uptight New England president.
One of the great stories from this period is the one where Coolidge is out walking with
his secret service agent around the White House grounds.
And they go past one of the executive offices.
And in the executive office, there sitting in the window, the secret service agent indicates
one of Coolidge's cabinet members.
He says there’s secretary so-and-so and he's hard at work, and here it is, 6:30, 7:00
in the evening.
And the president looks at the secret service agent and says, if he were a particularly
effective secretary, he probably wouldn't have to work past five o'clock.
This is the thinking of President Coolidge, this, this president who's trying to keep
America reined in during the Jazz Age.
And as we see him portrayed in this caricature by Covarrubias, he's this tight knit New England
president.
This, this man of these deep puritanical roots and he's also very much in control of his
world, or at least he thinks he is.
That's the pot shot that Covarrubias is taking at Calvin Coolidge.
One of the other great Coolidge stories is of course there's a lady who goes up to President
Coolidge at a party and says President Coolidge, my girlfriend and I over there, we have a
bet that I can get you to say more than two words.
Coolidge looks at her and says, you lose.
That's the way he was.
It's interesting that Covarrubias knew so much about these people.
He just instinctively looked at them, put them down on paper, and these little efforts
yielded tremendous caricatures.
The NPG has a really neat collection of Covarrubias’ work.
One of the more keen pictures in the collection is from the late 1940s.
And it's a self-portrait of Covarrubias who, whereas he might not have been so, so gentle
with other folks, he's pretty gentle with himself.
He gives himself in this self-portrait kind of a big head, but he diminishes his weight
which is kind of interesting because Covarrubias was a little bit on the portly side his entire
life.
Covarrubias was a tremendously talented artist.
He never gave up caricature but he turned himself into an anthropologist in the 1930s.
Covarrubias and his wife, the famous dancer Rosa Rolando Covarrubias, went to Bali on
their honeymoon.
And later in the 1930s, they return to Bali.
Covarrubias was so taken by the Balinese culture that he wrote what is still considered to
be the definitive anthropological text on Bali.
He also did extensive research in the Olmec culture.
And although he wasn't trained as an anthropologist to a very strong degree, he is as well known
for his work in anthropology as he is for his famous caricatures.