[3] At an early age he showed artistic ability and was sent to the Academia de Dibujo run by José Inés Tovilla.

[2] His artistic ability earned him a scholarship from the Aguascalientes state government to attend the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes, and he arrived to Mexico City in 1917 along with friend and fellow student Gabriel Fernández Ledesma .

[1][2] Here he studied under Leandro Izaguirre, German Gedovius and especially under Saturnino Herran, who taught him oil painting along with charcoal and pastel drawing.

He wrote a book of short stories called Su primer vuelo in 1945 and influential essays such as Gahona y Posada, grabadores mexicanos in 1968.

It also includes original periodicals by Venegas Arroyo illustrated by Posada, as well as prints by Fernández Ledesma, Emilio Amero, Leopoldo Méndez and some by Rufino Tamayo, David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco and Picheta, a nickname for the engraver Gabriel Gahona (note 11) the first engraver in Yucatán, an artist from the 19th century.

[6] Díaz de León died at the age of 78 at his home in Coyoacán, leaving behind a widow, María del Carman Toussaint, a son, Francisco, and two daughters, Graziella and Susana.

[1] Much of his notable work is related to a magazine called Mexican Art and Life, which he edited with Gabriel Fernández Ledesma between 1937 and 1939.

Other such work includes that done for books such as El gavilán by Francisco Castilla (1939), Viajes al siglo XIX by Enrique Fernández Ledesma (1933), and Tasco.

Guía de emociones by Manuel Toussaint (1967),[2] as well as a catalogue for the exhibit 20 Centuries of Mexican Art, presented in New York in 1940.

[4] Although fourteen years his senior, José Clemente Orozco solicited the help of Diaz de Leon for his first attempts at printmaking[7] Despite his importance in the first half of the 20th century, much of his work fell into obscurity, with almost all of his archive, about 4,000 pieces, stored in the family home in Mexico City.

[1] Díaz de León is considered to have been ahead of his time, pioneering many of the techniques and aesthetics found in modern Mexican graphic work.

[2] Common themes in his work include indigenous people, the countryside, images to reflect modern life of the time.