Born in 1907 in Valencia, Spain, Josep Renau, graphic artist, muralist, and painter, lived most of his life in exile. He lived in Mexico for 19 years, from 1939 to 1958.
When the Spanish Civil War commenced in 1936, he designed posters in support of the Spanish Republic against the insurgent army of General Francisco Franco and his fascist allies Hitler and Mussolini.
When the fascists succeeded in crushing the Spanish Republic in 1939, Renau, like millions of Spaniards, went into exile. He first traveled to France and then to Mexico, where a large number of Republican exiles settled.
Renau had little choice in Mexico but to create publicity posters and collect fuel for a more politicized fire during his free time. Thus, he turned to printmaking, where he emerged as a highly successful poster artist, doing more than 200 Mexican film posters between 1945 and 1954. While some of this work reflected his artistic skill, the commercial purposes of these posters were far removed from his philosophical commitment of expressing intimate feelings of political/social ideals.