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Lot Essay
A well known caricaturist who contributed his works to the Vanity Fair magazine from 1924 till 1936 when the magazine ceased publication, Miguel Covarrubias is by training, always strive to tell the most with the simplest composition. The painting and drawing of Covarrubias are often deceptively simplistic with his emphasis of line and uncomplicated composition but nevertheless evocative and enigmatic.
The present painting depicts the sitter frontally, looking intently at the viewer, with her slender frames placidly placed against a background of startling blue, she is wearing a smile that is alluring as her sparkling eyes. Simply adorned with a just a flower in her hair and the subang earrings she is wearing, the enigmatic quality of the sitter comes through with the deft and assured lines of the artist, who is the master of lineal aesthetics.
In a lineal, matter-of-fact style, Covarrubias nevertheless created a sense of sensuality by using curvaceous shapes abundantly, be it with the almond-shaped eyes, the full lip, the slender arms and certainly the cleavage. He successfully created an allure that is brazenly sensuous and at the same time unabashedly strong as accentuated by the arched eyebrows, revealing the inherent qualities of the works of Covarrubias which are the shape, the form and the clearly outlined.
Having the sitter portrayed with an intense gaze and set her against the plain, blue background with varying gradations at various areas is but a visual expression of potent thematic tensions which like many of his works evoke a curious sense of drama with fantastic and almost dreamlike quality.
The present painting depicts the sitter frontally, looking intently at the viewer, with her slender frames placidly placed against a background of startling blue, she is wearing a smile that is alluring as her sparkling eyes. Simply adorned with a just a flower in her hair and the subang earrings she is wearing, the enigmatic quality of the sitter comes through with the deft and assured lines of the artist, who is the master of lineal aesthetics.
In a lineal, matter-of-fact style, Covarrubias nevertheless created a sense of sensuality by using curvaceous shapes abundantly, be it with the almond-shaped eyes, the full lip, the slender arms and certainly the cleavage. He successfully created an allure that is brazenly sensuous and at the same time unabashedly strong as accentuated by the arched eyebrows, revealing the inherent qualities of the works of Covarrubias which are the shape, the form and the clearly outlined.
Having the sitter portrayed with an intense gaze and set her against the plain, blue background with varying gradations at various areas is but a visual expression of potent thematic tensions which like many of his works evoke a curious sense of drama with fantastic and almost dreamlike quality.