Story written by CLAS Spring 2026 intern David Simms. David is double majoring in International Studies and Economics.

Not very many Latin American artists have had a spotlight as bright as that of the influential Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, who coexisted in a Mexican golden age of art. They were in conversation with the broader modernist movement, which had its core in the Spanish world, with monumental figures such as Pablo Picasso and the surrealist Salvador Dali. While these forces did revolutionize art as we perceive it today, and how we perceive that era of time, one artist is overlooked for his impact on art and design of the modernist movement, the early 20th century, and art today. That artist is Miguel Covarrubias.

Covarrubias originates from the same Mexican golden age. He frequented Los Monotes, a popular cafe in Mexico City, and a gathering place of the likes of Kahlo, Rivera, and many Mexican artists, intellectuals, and writers. He was described as a spirited youth who would draw everyone in the cafe. His formal education ended at the age of fourteen, after not having a propensity for school. When his father arranged a drafting job for him, he would make drawings and joke with his coworkers more than do his job. He was privileged, as his father was an important government employee, and popular, due to his personality, but he still wasn’t doing what he truly wanted to do.

His big break came when he got a grant to go to New York City to continue his artistic endeavors. Without a name for himself, it was his mix of charisma, connections, and artistic skill that got him quickly identified by the cultural elite in New York and multiple influential magazines and newspapers. After coming to New York, he was quickly commissioned for Vanity Fair, The Tribune, and The Herald.

Covarrubias was lauded for his skills at caricatures, and he was also a prominent force in shaping the style of the Jazz Age. His painting depicting George Gershwin, which was printed in Vanity Fair, Vogue, and other magazines, exhibits his relevance to the cubist and modernist movements. His work shapes how we visually perceive the roaring twenties to this day. His style was sharp and modern, with vibrant, bright colors that appealed to the public, who wanted something new coming out of the First World War. He wasn’t celebrated everywhere, though, and his modern style was controversial to art critics.

Nor was Covarrubias satisfied with himself. He had been in love with a woman named Rosa for years, but they never married. With the Great Depression, and many magazines, including Vanity Fair, had shut their doors. It was in Central America that Covarrubias’ new fascination lay. He became interested in traditional cultures and documented them through paintings, drawings, and books he made. His work became concentrated on this new interest.

Some would say that his work in Central America would become the most remarkable part of his career. Always interested in something new and dissatisfied with the present situation, he made the remarkable switch from a notable figure in the prevailing art movements of the time to prominence in the fields of ethnology and Central American indigenous cultures. His work led him to identify the Olmec civilization as the mother of later Central American civilizations like the Maya. He partnered with Matthew W. Stirling to research these cultures and to shape how we understand Central American culture today.

Speaking on Covarrubias’s impressively diverse career, Dr. Carlos Rivas, Assistant Professor of History of Art and Ethnic Studies at The Ohio State University, said that, “Covarrubias is a rare example of an artist who was also a serious scholar, as he produced several historically noteworthy studies on ancient Mesoamerican art.” Books and art pieces by Covarrubias during this era of his career documented the passage of Central American culture over time, and “advanced numerous theories on cultural transformation after the height of the Olmec civilization in ancient Mexico.”

At the same time, Covarrubias was identified as an ideological threat to the United States during the Red Scare, and he was banned from the country. Instead, he brought back an artistic community to Tizapán, Mexico, at Number Five Calle Reforma. He worked on numerous books, but he found the work more laborious, less well-received, and he was paid less during the depression.

Covarrubias was always interested in new ideas and people, and fell in love with Rocío Sagaón, with whom he worked, despite still being with Rosa. He ended up marrying Sagaón, but the tumultuousness later in his life is said to have taken a toll on him. Pain kept him from eating, and doctors decided to administer surgery to relieve his ulcers. The surgery was botched, and Covarrubias died at only 54.

Covarrubias’s life is a fascinating example of a zeal for life and exploring one’s passions. He was a prominent artist of the modernist movement, born out of an artistic golden age in Mexico, but also creating a new artistic community of his own. His artwork, especially his cubist works and his caricatures, is studied today and shapes how we think of the roaring twenties and the art movements of the time. Finally, all of this can be overshadowed by his work with the Olmec civilization, which changed our understanding of history and is sometimes what he is remembered most for. Dr. Rivas noted, “It is a shame that more people are not familiar with the work of Covarrubias as he was internationally-recognized in his day and his legacy and impact is undisputed.” When looking at the culmination of all of these achievements, Covarrubias becomes noteworthy himself as a force in the Latin American world of art and history, and deserves to be remembered across the world.