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.
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