Andrés Iduarte

Andrés Iduarte Foucher (May 1, 1907 – April 16, 1984) was a distinguished Mexican essayist and member of the Mexican Academy of Language.

Biography Andrés Iduarte Foucher was born on May 1, 1907, in Villahermosa, Tabasco, then known as San Juan Bautista. As a result of the arrival of the Mexican Revolution conflict to Tabasco in 1914, his family moved temporarily to the cities of Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche, and Mérida, before turning back to San Juan Bautista once order was reestablished in the city; this experience would be later put down by Iduarte into an autobiographical book entitled Niño, child of the Mexican Revolution (Un niño en la Revolución Mexicana). In 1919, his family moved to Mexico City as a consequence of his sister Eloísa's health problems, who got Spanish flu. by 1922, he enrolled in high school at the National Preparatory School (Escuela Nacional Preparatoria) where he studied till 1925. Being influenced by José Vasconcelos' ideas, he promoted the autonomy of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Between 1928 and 1930, Andrés Iduarte travelled to Paris and he joined the Latinamerican Student Association (Asociación de Estudiantes Latinoamericanos, AGELA) where he met other Latin American personalities such as Carlos Quijano, Miguel Ángel Asturias, César Vallejo, Gustavo Machado, Eduardo Machado, Manuel Ugarte and Gabriela Mistral. He continued his studies at the Central University of Madrid, Spain, and became Secretary of the Hispano-American University Federation, a member of the Scholar University Federation, and Secretary of the Iberoamerican Division of the Athenaeus of Madrid. remaining there till 1952.

In 1952, he was designated General Director of the National Institute of Fine Arts (Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, INBA) in Mexico; there he had among his fellow associates important artists such as Andrés Henestrosa, Celestino Gorostiza, José Durón and Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, who were chairmen of the Literature, Theatre, Music and Architecture Departments, respectively. In 1955, he was dismissed of his duties by then president Adolfo Ruíz Cortines, for allowing the Soviet flag to be laid upon Frida Kahlo's coffin at her funeral, as willed by her beliefs.

Among the recognitions he obtained, was the First Award of the Martí's Pro-Centennial Commission in Essay written by Foreigners in Havana, 1951, on his work Martí, Writer (Martí, escritor)

Andrés Iduarte was married twice to the same woman, Graciela Frías Amescua, though they never had any children. On April 16, 1984, Andrés Iduarte died in Mexico City.

Works El libertador Simón Bolívar (1931) Homenaje a Bolívar (1931) Moral Problem of Mexican Youth (El problema moral de la juventud mexicana, 1932) En el fuego de España (1933) Pláticas hispanoamericanas (1934) Veinte años con Rómulo Gallegos (1934) Martí, escritor (1944), doctoral dissertation from Columbia University. México en la nostalgia (1944) Sarmiento: a través de sus mejores páginas (1949) Niño, child of the Mexican Revolution (Un niño en la Revolución Mexicana, 1951) Island without Poison (La isla sin veneno, 1954), conference given at Universidad de Oriente on October 16, 1954 Sarmiento, Martí y Rodó (1955) Gabriela Mistral, santa a la jineta (1958) Don Pedro de Alba y su tiempo (1963) Tres escritores mexicanos (1967) El mundo sonriente (1968) Preparatoria (1983) Lunes de El Nacional (1970) Diez estampas mexicanas (1971) Hispanismo e hispanoamericanismo (1983) Semblanzas (1984)