The Mexican Revolution occurred while he was a young child and he stated that he remembered events such as soldiers on horses charging as well as the execution of rural farm workers.
[3] He attended primary and high school in Mexico City but stated that his education was irregular and deficient.
[2] After he graduated, he worked with the cultural missions of the Secretaría de Educación Pública in Oaxaca, Michoacán, Guerrero, Colima, Coahuila and Chihuahua (state) from 1932 to 1937 then again from 1941 to 1945.
[2][5] He created posters for conferences about fascism and Nazism such as Alemania bajo bayonetas (Germany under bayonets) in 1938.
His main mural is at the former home of José María Morelos in Carácuaro, Michoacán, but there are a number at various rural schools.
[1] His painting has been described as having "clarity of thematic content, precision of line, simplification of form, and application of color.
[5][8] He best politically themed work is a lithograph entitled Soldado muerto (Dead soldier) from 1940 which was part of an exhibition called “La Revolución sobre papel: grabados mexicanos 1910-1960” in the British Museum in 2009.
[1] Another important lithograph from the same period is Bombardeo, España, 1937 in opposition to the rebellion by Francisco Franco against the Spanish Republic.