The Mexican painter, engraver and sculptor, Luis Arenal Bastar, was born in Teapa in Southern Mexico, in 1908 or '09. He attended parochial school, later studying mechanical engineering. In 1924 he immigrated to the US where he studied architecture. Arenal returned to Mexico and, man of many talents, then studied law and sculpture at Escuela Nacional des Artes Plasticas. He was a founding member of several organizations including Liga de Escritores Y Artistas Revolucionares.
He was a politically active Communist and at one time fled to the US for a time, after an incident at León Trotsky's home. He contributed propaganda to magazines and publications. Arenal painted many murals throughout Mexico and created a couple of sculptures to compliment David Sisquieros' mural at Centro de Arte Moderno in Mexico City.
His last major project was a collaborative mural with Lorenzo Carrasco (architect), titled Cabeza de Juarez, in Iztapalapa. The monument weighed three tons and is thirteen meters high. Arenal and his team finished the project after David Sisquieros, who was supposed to paint it, passed away before it could be completed. Today it has been converted to a museum.
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