José Luis Cuevas, who was born in Mexico City, was artistically inspired by the complexities of the human condition explored by Goya and Picasso rather than by the political art of his fellow countrymen. Early in his career, he illustrated periodicals and books, and his figurative art tended to examine the universal challenges inherent to mankind. Cuevas was inspired by several authors, the Marquis de Sade among them. In a 12-lithograph portfolio named after one of the asylums in which Sade was incarcerated, Cuevas examines the philosophically, politically and sexually deviant world of the French author. The suite was printed by Ernest de Soto, the first Mexican-American to receive the title of master printer at Tamarind. In 1967, De Soto went on to establish Collector’s Press in San Francisco, where Cuevas, among other notable artists, would continue to print.