Miguel Salas Anzures was a founding father of the Frente Nacional de Artes Plásticas (FNAP), which was created in May 1952, as a permanent entity for social and cultural action. His goal was to represent visual arts workers and defend the cultural heritage of Mexico in order to promote artistic manifestations inspired by the Mexican people, whom his efforts were to serve. Salas Anzures held the position of chair of the Department of Visual Arts of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes from 1957 to 1961. He was commissary of the biennial and a member of the selection committee. At the time, his involvement in the biennial was broadly criticized for not taking into account the wide range of artistic trends of the day, and for supporting figurative painting with social and political messages. Later he would be accused of being a traitor for supporting the painters of the so-called Ruptura generation.
Miguel Álvarez Acosta, director of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (1954–58), and Miguel Salas Anzures, chair of the Department of Visual Arts (1957–1961) of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (INBAL) [National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature], were the organizers of the two biennials held at the Museo Nacional de Artes Plásticas (Palacio de Bellas Artes). The first biennial, held from June 6 to September 30, 1958, consisted of four exhibition-tributes to José Clemente Orozco (1883–1949), Diego Rivera (1886–1957), David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896–1974), and the Brazilian painter Candido Portinari (1903–1962). There was widespread discontent with this biennial, because of the organizing bodies and the involvement of the Frente Nacional de Artes Plásticas in the jury panel.
At the second biennial, held in 1960, many artists, including José Luis Cuevas (born 1934), Francisco Icaza, and Arnold Belkin (1930–1992), among others, refused to participate in protest of Siqueiros’s imprisonment at Lecumberri. Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, the United States, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela were the countries that took part in both events.
The official name of the biennial, and the one that was most commonly used, was “Bienal Interamericana de Pintura y Grabado” [Inter-American Biennial of Painting and Printmaking], though it was also known as the “Bienal de Artes Plásticas” [Visual Arts Biennial], “Bienal Panamericana de Pintura” [Pan American Painting Biennial], among other coinages.