Calle José Baldasano Baos

José Bardasano Baos was born in Madrid in 1910 and learned his trade at the School of Arts and Crafts. He admired Velázquez and Goya, and began by illustrating magazines and newspapers before he turned thirty. When the Civil War came he found his voice in the poster. He founded and directed the propaganda workshop La Gallofa, tied to the United Socialist Youth, and drew militiamen, workers and peasants with a force that made him one of the most recognised poster artists of the Republic. Those prints pasted on the walls of Madrid are today among the most representative graphic art of those years. Defeat pushed him into exile. He crossed the Atlantic aboard the Sinaia bound for Mexico, where he taught, painted on commission and helped found the Mexican Círculo de Bellas Artes, which he went on to chair. He returned to Spain in 1960 and continued to exhibit.