Gouache on board, 1933Published in Vanity Fair, June 1933
Miguel Covarrubias / Vanity Fair
© Conde Nast Publications, Inc.
Caroline and Erwin Swann Collection
of Caricature and Cartoon
Prints and Photographs Division (2)
Mexican caricaturist Miguel Covarrubias (1904-1957) created this derisive group portrait of the three most powerful European dictators and Huey Long, United States senator from Louisiana, in 1933 for his celebrated series of "Impossible Interviews" published in Vanity Fair. Born in Mexico City, Covarrubias showed early artistic talent and in 1923, on a scholarship from the Mexican government, left for New York City, where he quickly gained a reputation as an accomplished caricaturist. By 1925, he had become one of Vanity Fair's principal contributors and as renowned as the men and women he drew. In his introduction to Covarrubias's first book, The Prince of Wales and Other Famous Americans (1925), performing arts critic Carl Van Vechten wrote, "At the present moment, Miguel Covarrubias is about as well known in New York as it would be possible for anyone to be." -http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/craws/craws-exhibit.html
