Lucio López-Rey (Madrid, 1904 - New York, 1957) had a strong interest in visual arts from an early age. In 1934, he was appointed artistic director of the newspaper Política in his hometown, where he published several cartoons. A year later, he held his first solo exhibition at the Gallery of Fine Arts in Madrid, but because of the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, he had to emigrate to France, where he expanded his artistic expressions to ceramics. 

Due to the political climate in Europe, he moved to Denmark, then to Finland, and in 1942, he relocated to Mexico. His work combined caricaturistic elements with European avant-garde art influences, as well as aspects of the Mexican landscape. These elements, along with his rich use of color, generated interest in various artistic circles in Mexico. In 1945, he moved to the United States, where he held several solo exhibitions in New York and Washington.