Spanish painter and printmaker. When the Spanish Civil War broke (1936), Ortega was already a protest artist at age 15. After joining the Communist Party, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. After being acquitted (1952), he enrolled at the National School of Graphic Arts and the Club of Fine Arts in Madrid. He received a French government scholarship (1953) to study at École Estienne and the School of Fine Arts in Paris. He returned to Spain (1954-1960) where he lived in hiding and travelled to China to receive awards. He founded the group “Popular Prints” and went into exile in Paris (1960-1970) where he won numerous awards and became considered one of the major Spanish artists of the new generation. His work evolved to a less schematic representation, “tinged with metaphysics and steeped in mystery.”
