Adolfo Best Maugard

During his early career, Best made some detailed illustrations of prehispanic excavation findings in the Valley of Mexico for Franz Boas.

He confronted Mexican folk art and added modern and rational stylistic elements to his paintings, which often included figurative caricatures.

He was also a member of the Sociedad de Geografía y Estadística ("Society of Geography and Statistics") and of the Mexican Union of Film Directors.

In 1933, he directed the filming of Humanidad ("Humanity") and in 1937, La Mancha de Sangre ("The Bloodstain") based on his own script, which was first screened in June 1943.

His approach to explaining universalism in drawing is based on the principles of formal abstraction and fusion; which then creates an alternative to the rhetorical, didactic, and figurative art later known as the 'Mexican School'.

He sought to reveal scientific laws relevant to all social phenomena and understanding the development of human society as a rising progression from the savage or primitive state to modern civilization.

Boas' research on refuting the concept of racial determinism was a great influence on Best Maugard's drawing method.