# Miguel Covarrubias artist context and auction value notes Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/miguel-covarrubias/ Profile generated: 2026-05-07T03:31:24.624Z Quality: high confidence, strong sources ## Artist identity - Birth date: 1904-11-22 - Death date: 1957-02-04 - Nationality: Mexican - Movements: Mexican modernism - Common media: Painting (oil, gouache), Drawing and illustration (ink, graphite), Printmaking and graphic arts, Mural painting, Costume and set design ## About Miguel Covarrubias Miguel Covarrubias (1904–1957) was a Mexican painter, caricaturist, illustrator, ethnologist, and art historian whose career spanned fine art, popular illustration, and anthropological scholarship. Born in Mexico City, he moved to New York in the 1920s and quickly gained recognition for his incisive caricatures of cultural and political figures, published in Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and other leading magazines. Beyond caricature, he produced paintings, murals, book illustrations, and stage designs for theater and dance. As an ethnologist, Covarrubias conducted fieldwork in Bali and Southeast Asia, and together with Matthew W. Stirling he co-discovered the Olmec civilization in Mexico. His scholarly publications on indigenous Mesoamerican art and Balinese culture remain influential references. Works by Covarrubias are held in major institutional collections including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. ## Common works and media Caricature portraits of celebrities and political figures in ink and gouache. Magazine and book illustrations, including dust jacket designs. Prints and lithographs. Gouache and oil paintings of Balinese, Mexican, and ethnographic subjects. Costume and set designs for theater and ballet productions. Murals. Map illustrations and anthropological diagrams from his scholarly publications. ## Market and appraisal context Miguel Covarrubias has a well-established and active secondary market with 330 auction lots recorded from 2001 through April 2026, of which 252 carry realized prices. His work trades regularly at top-tier houses including Christie's and Sotheby's, alongside specialist and regional auctioneers such as Swann Auction Galleries, Bonhams, Morton Subastas, and John Moran Auctioneers. Price dispersion is wide: the entry level for reproductive prints, books, and minor works starts around $20–$250 USD, while the interquartile range spans $800–$27,500. The median price of $2,520 reflects a market where modestly sized drawings, lithographs, and studies form the bulk of turnover. Premium results are driven by unique original works—particularly gouache paintings of Mexican and Balinese subjects and original Vanity Fair-era caricature drawings. The top recorded price is $3,150,000, and a Christie's February 2025 sale of the gouache "Juchitecas bailando el son" realized $214,200, confirming strong demand for important paintings at major houses. Liquidity is steady at 16–18 priced lots per year, indicating consistent but not oversaturated market activity. ## Auction-house-backed market evidence Miguel Covarrubias has a well-established and active secondary market with 330 auction lots recorded from 2001 through April 2026, of which 252 carry realized prices. His work trades regularly at top-tier houses including Christie's and Sotheby's, alongside specialist and regional auctioneers such as Swann Auction Galleries, Bonhams, Morton Subastas, and John Moran Auctioneers. Price dispersion is wide: the entry level for reproductive prints, books, and minor works starts around $20–$250 USD, while the interquartile range spans $800–$27,500. The median price of $2,520 reflects a market where modestly sized drawings, lithographs, and studies form the bulk of turnover. Premium results are driven by unique original works—particularly gouache paintings of Mexican and Balinese subjects and original Vanity Fair-era caricature drawings. The top recorded price is $3,150,000, and a Christie's February 2025 sale of the gouache "Juchitecas bailando el son" realized $214,200, confirming strong demand for important paintings at major houses. Liquidity is steady at 16–18 priced lots per year, indicating consistent but not oversaturated market activity. ### Appraisal notes Appraisily would use these 330 auction records as a comparable-sales baseline, cross-referenced with the specific work's medium, dimensions, signature, condition, provenance, and edition details (for prints). Original gouache paintings and ink drawings—especially Balinese, Mexican-ethnographic, and Vanity Fair caricature subjects—carry the highest value tier. Lithographs, reproductive prints, and book-illustration material trade at significantly lower levels. An appraiser would narrow the comparable set by matching medium, subject, period, size, and sale venue, then adjust for condition, provenance quality, exhibition history, and any published reproduction of the work. The wide price range ($20–$3,150,000) makes medium and attribution the most critical first-screening factors: a collector should confirm whether a work is an original or a reproductive print before relying on any price estimate. ### Valuation factors - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] ### Collector notes ### Market caveats - The $3,150,000 maximum price is an outlier that may reflect a museum-quality or historically significant painting; it should not be used as a benchmark for typical works. - Of 330 recorded lots, 78 (24%) lack published realized prices, which may reflect buy-ins, withdrawn lots, or data gaps. The actual transaction rate may differ from the listed lot count. - Reproductive prints, book illustrations, and posthumous reproductions circulate alongside original artwork; professional attribution review is strongly recommended before valuation. - Auction results span 25 years (2001–2026); earlier results may not reflect current market conditions. Prioritize comparables from the last 3–5 years. - The Invaluable-sourced lot data does not include category labels; the categories listed are inferred from lot titles and the artist's known mediums rather than structured classification. ### Market evidence sources - undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/miguel-covarrubias/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-miguel-covarrubias-1904-1957-pencil-signed-lithograph-428-c-6539c6abd3 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-miguel-covarrubias-1904-1957-mexican-mujer-proviniciana-1928-42-c-d9a7cc6ea5 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-miguel-covarrubias-1904-1957-mexican-filatelista-cartoon-for-vanity-fair-magazine-circa-1920s-41-c-4ee6da1e65 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-miguel-covarrubias-mx-1904-1956-the-united-states-of-america-354-c-6bfe6ddb55 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-miguel-covarrubias-negro-drawings-book-1927-718-c-c314b73a0b - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-miguel-covarrubias-1904-1957-mexican-head-of-a-balinese-girl-circa-1930-26-c-791498ca86 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-miguel-covarrubias-lithograph-on-paper-tehuantepec-river-signed-116-c-8244265b94 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-miguel-covarrubias-mx-1904-1956-the-united-states-of-america-151-c-f47444b835 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-adolf-hitler-and-leon-meyer-by-miguel-covarrubias-917-c-f564627af0 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-miguel-covarrubias-6-pagaent-of-the-pacific-20-c-eca4aeda98 ## Appraisily data basis Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. ## Sources - Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n81072746 - RKD — Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/18834 - Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1709505 - VIAF (OCLC): https://viaf.org/viaf/9977968/ - The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/1279 - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Covarrubias