Leonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts 2007
Area of Work: Art – Philosophy
Date: 24 Nov 2007
Place of Ceremony: University Theater
Host Institution: Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León
Host Country: Monterrey, Nuevo León, México
The World Cultural Council presented the 2007 Leonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts to Prof. Anne Moeglin-Delcroix who has produced, in the course of her career as scholar of art and philosopher, an outstanding number of works dealing with the status of the artists work and book. Her work in this field is both ground-breaking and extremely insightful; she has given prominence to a little considered object, the artist’s book, while constantly remaining at the forefront of philosophical reflexion in the field. This recognition is for her contributions to the Art-Philosophy and the promotion of the arts through “alternative spaces”.
In the course of her career Prof. Anne Moeglin-Delcroix has explored almost all the facets of the artistic world, while specializing in the fascinating topic of artists’ books. Currently a Professor of philosophy of art at the University of Paris 1, she is also Director of a research unit on contemporary philosophy and philosophy of art.
Prof. Moeglin-Delcroix has been in charge of the Department of photographs and prints for the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, and has been instrumental in making the artist’s book emerge as work of art per se. In her words, “If one wishes to apprehend what in the artist’s book constitutes a work of art, it is essential to seek to determine the irreducible characteristics of the « book as a form », or to try to conceive of the work of art as a form of book.” Her ground-breaking work, Aesthetics of the Artist’s book, 1960-1980 (1997) has been recognised as the most important work in this field. Another work, Artists’ books: the invention of a genre (1997) clearly states what Prof. Anne Moeglin-Delcroix has succeeded in doing through her research: to have an entire and neglected genre recognized by the community of artists and critics.
Prof. Moeglin Delcroix has been consultant for a vast number of museum exhibits: at the Bibiothéque nationale de France; at the Centre Georges Pompidou (“Livres d’artistes”), at the Centre for contemporary art in Garehead ( U.K.) (“Artists’ books. Outside of a dog”); at the Casa del Mantegna (Mantua, Italy). The great number of international conferences and seminars for which her contribution is valued speaks of itself. The World Cultural Council is an international organization based in México, founded in 1982, that acknowledges every year individuals or institutions that have made outstanding achievements in science, education and the arts by means of its awards.
