José García Ortega was born in Arroba de los Montes, in the province of Ciudad Real, Spain. He taught himself how to draw as a graphic artist by designing posters for various organizations who focused on anti-Franco sentiment as the Spanish Civil War set in. In 1941, after the end of the war, he formally joined the Spanish Communist Party and took jobs as a painter and decorator; however, in 1948 he was charged with anti-government activities and was sent to prison until his early release in 1952, whereupon he enrolled in the National School of Graphic Arts and the Circulo de Bellas Artes in Madrid.

After one year Ortega was granted a scholarship to study at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. While there he earned a gold medal for his graphic art at the Warsaw International Youth Festival. After completing his studies he returned to Spain where he held a major an exhibition at the Alfil Gallery, Madrid with the printmakers Palacios Tardez and Ruiz Pernias; in 1958, the three artists founded the Grupo Estampa Popular, and together published the Manifesto Against Art.

Once again persecuted for his political beliefs, he was exiled from Spain by Franco's government in 1960 and he returned to Paris. He entered the studio of Johnny Friedlaender who introduced him to intaglio printmaking and in 1961 he participated in an exhibition of graphic artists at the Gallery Epona in Paris and the Pläne Gallery in Dusseldorf. He soon focused primarily on printmaking, and in 1963 he was awarded the gold medal of the International Congress of Art Critics.