Miguel Covarrubias

Nias Ancestral Figure from Indonesia and Ancestral Figure from Malekula, New Hebrides, A Pair

Lot Closed

September 27, 07:30 PM GMT

Estimate

15,000 - 20,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Property from a Private Collection, Florida

Miguel Covarrubias

1904 - 1957

Nias Ancestral Figure from Indonesia and Ancestral Figure from Malekula, New Hebrides, A Pair

i. Signed with the initials MC (lower right); inscribed Gowe in dem vonn van een voorouderbeeld, te Hiligowe (moro'o). (Schroeder) (upper left)

ii. Signed with the initials MC (lower right); inscribed Memorial figure made of clay and spiber webbs [sic] on a bamboo frame. New Hebrides. About 50" high. Chicago Museum of Natural History #133108 (on the reverse)

i. Watercolor and brush and ink on paper

ii. Watercolor, gouache and pencil on paper

i. 10⅞ by 8 in. (27.6 by 20.3 cm); Framed: 19¼ by 15¾ in. (48.9 by 40 cm)

ii. 11½ by 8¾ in. (29.2 by 22.2 cm); Framed: 19¼ by 15¾ in. (48.9 by 40 cm)

i. Executed circa 1938.

ii. Executed circa 1946.

Private Collection, United States (and sold: Sotheby's, New York, June 13, 2000, lot WIR)

Acquired at the above sale

ii. "Art of the South Seas," in Vogue, New York, February 1, 1946, illustrated in color p. 130

i. This image appears in the mural Art and Culture of the Pacific painted by Covarrubias in 1938 as one of a cycle of six murals featuring maps of the Pacific region entitled Pageant of the Pacific, commissioned for the 1940 Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco, California. Five of these murals survive and are held in the collection of the De Young Museum in San Francisco.