In 1956, at age 17, Condé rented a studio in New York and began to study anatomy with renowned American artist and anatomist Stephen Rogers Peck, author of the classic manual "Atlas for Human Anatomy for the Artist". He also attended courses taught by the Harvard Art History professor and curator Millard Meiss, at the Fogg Art Museum. Condé returned to Mexico in 1959 and settled in Tepoztlán, a popular tourist destination near Mexico City. In 1963 he was awarded a scholarship by the French government (Bourse d’Etudes Libres), so he moved to Paris where he studied with Stanley William Hayter in his Atelier 17.