The Captive Eye. Ornamentation and Marquesan Tattos in the Work of Miguel Covarrubias

This essay examines the intellectual and ethnographic sources of Miguel Covarrubias regarding Marquesan ornaments and tattoos. In particular, I analyze his understanding of the design of ornaments in the Marquesan art and the development of their motifs, as well as Covarrubias’ position regarding la...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Luna, Anahí
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:México
Institución:UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTÓNOMA DE MÉXICO
Repositorio:Anales del Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas
Idioma:español
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs.atenea.esteticas.unam.mx:article/2721
Acceso en línea:https://www.analesiie.unam.mx/index.php/analesiie/article/view/2721
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Ornamentation
tattoos
Marquesas Islands
Polynesia
Karl von den Steinen
Gottfried Semper
Herman Melville
Alfred Gell
Miguel Covarrubias
Ornamentación
tatuajes
islas Marquesas
Polinesia
Descripción
Sumario:This essay examines the intellectual and ethnographic sources of Miguel Covarrubias regarding Marquesan ornaments and tattoos. In particular, I analyze his understanding of the design of ornaments in the Marquesan art and the development of their motifs, as well as Covarrubias’ position regarding late nineteenth century anthropology and morphology, from which the so-called “biology of ornaments” derives. Through the study of a selection of Covarrubias' drawings and sketches of Marquesan art, it is possible to reconstruct the creative process behind the illustrations that he made for a 1935 special edition of Typee, Herman Melville’s first novel.