 In February 1931, Izquierdo left the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes (Academy of Fine Arts) because of the animosity she received from her classmates and her frustration with the school's growing concentration on art serving only as a catalyst for political change.In the early 1920s a circle of young writers and artists, Including Maria Izquierdo, published a magazine called the Contemporáneos.The group would later adopt this name to identify themselves.