Antonio Castro Leal
Antonio Castro Leal was a Mexican diplomat and intellectual.
Biography
Antonio Castro Leal was born on March 2, 1896, in San Luis Potosí. He received his licenciate and doctor of law degrees from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and his PhD from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Castro Leal was rector of UNAM in 1929 during the student strikes that ultimately lead to the university becoming autonomous, after which he resigned his post. In 1934 as Director of the Department of Fine Arts he inaugurated the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. He lived in Paris from 1949 to 1954 as Mexico's ambassador and executive board member for UNESCO, after which he moved to Coyoacán, in Mexico City, where he lived for the rest of his life. He died on January 7, 1981.Main posts held
- Rector of the National Autonomous University of Mexico,1928–29
- Director of the Department of Fine Arts, 1934
- Mexican ambassador to UNESCO, 1949–52
- Member of UNESCO's executive board, 1950–54
- Member of the Chamber of Deputies, 1958–61
Works
Las cien mejores poesías liricas mexicanas The Church Problem in Mexico Las cien mejores poesias mexicanas Juan Ruiz de Alarcón. Ingenio y sabiduría Twenty Centuries of Mexican Art - Revista de literatura mexicana El libro de oro del cine mexicano Las dos partes del Quijote La poesía mexicana moderna Una historia del siglo XX Las ideas de Salvador Díaz Mirón La novela de la Revolución Mexicana El laurel de San Lorenzo Un mensaje a la América Latina y una elegía por España Alejandro de Humboldt y el arte prehispánico El Primer Congreso Internacional de Americanistas El pensamiento musical de Carlos Chávez La novela del México colonial Luis G. Urbina Las tragedias de Shakespeare Thoreau y su discípulo Cassius Clay ¿A dónde va México? Reflexiones sobre nuestra historia contemporánea Hombres e ideas de nuestro tiempo Díaz Mirón, su vida y su obra El español, instrumento de una cultura La poesía de Manuel José Othón- ''El imperialismo andaluz y otras historias''