Today's Date:

France/United States

Award of the insigna of « chevalier des arts et des lettres » to M. Michael Shapiro

Atlanta, Novembre 5, 2005

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Michael Shapiro,

I have the pleasure and privilege of welcoming you today to the French residence to honor an exceptional man, Michael Shapiro, cultural entrepreneur, and lover of France.

Michael Shapiro, your admirable involvement and service to the arts has been without reservation and the rapport that you have developed with French museums is most unique.

You have been the head of the High Museum for 15 years, after having served as its curator and its chief for four years.

Since the creation of the museum in 1905, it has evolved from the impressive architectural gem Richard Meier intended, in 1983, to its transformation today with the newly unveiled magnificent extension, conceived by the great architect Renzo Piano, which, I am quite sure will prove to be the new « hot spot » - the new place to see and be seen. You have navigated/directed this new extension and conversion. Thanks to you actions, your vision, your impetus and commitment, you have added a new architectural and artistic dimension to the city of Atlanta and to the Southeastern United States.

Through numerous exhibitions, many of which were devoted to French art, you have considerably increased the number of visitors to the museum and, since 1995, have tripled the number of members. As a true cultural Ambassador, you have facilitated the discovery and appreciation of the art of our country in the southeast by way of various exhibitions, notably: “Paris in the Age of Impressionism: Masterworks of the Musée d’Orsay”, on view from November 2002 to March 2003.

It was during this period that you developed a unique relationship with French museums and one of their best representatives, who I have the pleasure of greeting today: Mr. Henri Loyrette. From this relationship, was born an unprecedented project, to be inaugurated in 2006: the Louvre in Atlanta, presenting to Americans, a part of the museum’s richness, through a collection of work, among which, certain pieces have never before left French territory.

I would equally like to acknowledge a remarkable cooperative group of American and French museums, which is very dear to me, FRAME (French Regional and American Museums Exchange), of which the High Museum is a participating member since 2004. FRAME’s first exhibition took place in France, in Bordeaux, immediately after September 11, in an atmosphere of emotional solidarity between French and Americans. I hope that the richness of these communal museum collections and the competence of their curators and staff will not only allow for brilliant exhibition projects, as was without a doubt the case with the exhibitions “Mythology of the West” and “Bonjour Mr. Courbet,” presented in 2004 and 2005 in the United States, but will also foster long term research projects, exchanges visits of curators and other museum professionals, a mutual and reciprocal understanding of organizational systems and an exchange of general “good practices”.

Nulle ville aux Etats-Unis plus qu’Atlanta ne sait le prix de la relation humaine et de l’amitié entre nos deux pays dans la mise en œuvre de grands projets artistiques. Il y a un peu plus de 40 ans, en effet, en 1962, 129 mécènes de cette ville trouvaient la mort dans le crash d’un avion qui les emmenait vers la France. Je tiens à saluer leur mémoire. Je tiens à leur rendre hommage. Je souhaite que personne, et surtout pas en France, n’oublie que des citoyens américains ont payé de leur vie leur amour de l’art et leur amitié pour la France. L’installation du Louvre à Atlanta, c’est, je l’espère, l’aboutissement le plus symbolique et le plus fort des projets que nos amis d’alors avaient pu porter.

I am confident this exemplary project The Louvre in Atlanta will encourage, the enrichment and reinforcement of our dialogue and transatlantic exchanges. France and the United States have much to share in the cultural and artistic domain because they have, regardless of international relations, the same respect for cultural diversity.

You have thus, inspired a renewal of international museographic reflection and action. You are, dear Michael Shapiro, just as the friends present here today one of the artisans of this intimate circle.

Michael Shapiro, au nom de la République, nous vous faisons Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.