Jose Angela Aguilar was born at San Ildefonso Pueblo, most likely in the first decade of 1900. He was married to well-known Picuris potter, Rosalie Simbola and painted her pottery in addition to his own paintings.

Aguilar’s work is in the collections of the Denver Art Museum and the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation.

His son, Jose Vincente Aguilar was born in 1924, painted during the 1940s and 50s, then turned to a career in the aerospace industry.

Jose Angela Aguilar is cited in the Biographical Directory of American Indian Painters by Lester, When the Rainbow Touches Down by Seymour and American Indian Painters A Biographical Directory by Snodgrass.