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The 'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres' (Order of Arts and Literature) is an Order of France, established on May 2, 1957 by the Minister of Culture, and confirmed as part of ''l'Ordre National du Mérite'' by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant contributions to the arts, literature, or the propagation of these fields.

Contents

Background

Notable foreign recipients

See also

References

External links

Background

French government guidelines provide that citizens of France must be at least thirty years old, respect French civil law, and must have, “significantly contributed to the enrichment of the French cultural inheritance.”
Members are not, however, limited to French nationals. Recipients have included numerous foreign luminaries.
Foreign recipients are admitted into the Order, “without condition of age.”
The Order has three grades:

★ '''Commandeur''' (commander) - medallion worn on necklet; up to twenty recipients a year.

★ '''Officier''' (officer) - medallion worn on ribbon with rosette on left breast; up to sixty recipients a year.

★ '''Chevalier''' (knight) - medallion worn on ribbon on left breast; up to 200 recipients a year.
The ''médaille'' of the Order is an eight-point, green-enameled ''asterisk'', in gilt for commanders and officers, in silver for knights; the obverse central disc has the letters “A” and “L” on a white enamelled background, surrounded by a golden ring emblazoned with the phrase “''République Française''.” The reverse central disc features the head of Marianne on a golden background, surrounded by a golden ring bearing the words “''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres''.” The commander's badge is topped by a gilt twisted ring.
The ''ribbon'' of the Order is green with four white stripes.
According to the statutes of the Order, french citizens must wait a minimum of 5 years before they are eligible to be upgraded from Chevalier to Officer, or Officer of Commandeur and must have displayed additional meritorious deeds that just those which originally made them a Chevalier. However in the statues there is a clause saying "Les Officiers et les Commandeurs de la Légion d’honneur peuvent être directement promus à un grade équivalent dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" Translation : The officer and commanders of the Legion of Honour are able to be promoted directly to an equivalent grade in the Order of Arts and Letters. This means that were someone to be made a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters one year, then made an officer of the Legion of Honour the next year that person would be upgraded to Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters having bypassed the five year rule.

Notable foreign recipients

★ Shah Rukh Khan ''Off.'', 2007

★ John Coolidge Adams

★ Barry Jean Ancelet

★ June Anderson, ''Off.''

★ Constantine Andreou, ''Off.'', 2005 ^[1]

★ Paul Anka

★ Lisa Appignanesi

★ Robyn Archer

★ Juan Esteban Aristizábal

★ Claudio Arrau

★ Paul Auster

★ Cecilia Bartoli

★ Quentin Blake, ''Chev.'', 2004

★ David Bowie

★ Mel Brooks ''Off.''

★ Art Buchwald

★ Anthony Burgess

★ Bruno Campanella, ''Off.'', 2002^[2]

★ Ion Caramitru, ''Chev.'', 1997

★ Louis Cha

★ Miroslav Changalovic, ''Chev.''

★ William Lincoln Christie

★ Michael Cimino

★ George Clooney^[3]

★ John O'Conor

★ Clotilde Courau

★ Tony Curtis

★ Mahmoud Darwish

★ Elfi von Dassanowsky

★ John F. Deane

★ Celine Dion

★ Leonardo DiCaprio

★ Bob Dylan ''Cdr.'', 1990 ^[4]

★ Clint Eastwood, ''Cdr.'', 1994

★ Ralph Waldo Ellison

★ Christoph Eschenbach, ''Cdr.'' 2006

★ Péter Esterházy

★ Fairuz, ''Cdr.'', 1988

★ Ella Fitzgerald

★ William Faulkner

★ Lawrence Ferlinghetti

★ Timothy Findley

★ Richard Foreman, "Off." 2004

★ Sivaji Ganesan

★ Gamal Al-Ghitani

★ Allen Ginsberg

★ Nan Goldin, ''Cdr.'', 2006

★ Nadine Gordimer, ''Cdr.''

★ Susan GrahamNed Rorem and Susan Graham Decoration

★ Han Shaogong

★ Michael Haneke

★ Hal Hartley

★ Patricia Highsmith

★ Rustam Ibragimbekov

★ Kazuo Ishiguro

★ Gwyneth Jones

★ Maroussia Klimova

★ M. Balamurali Krishna

★ Shiro Kuramata

★ Emir Kusturica

★ Onat Kutlar

★ Phyllis Lambert

★ Amanda Lear ''Chev.'', 2006 ^[5]

★ Lee Byung-Hun

★ Jude Law, ''Chev.'', 2007

★ Gong Li

★ Gabriel Liiceanu, ''Chev.'', 1992

★ Neville Marriner

★ Allan Massie, Chevalier 2007

★ Karita Mattila

★ John McGahern

★ Shigeru Miyamoto

★ Peter Molyneux

★ Toni Morrison

★ Ted Nelson, ''Off.'', 2001

★ Jessye Norman

★ Rudolf Nureyev, ''Chev.'' 1992

★ Arthur Papadimitriou, ''Chev.'', 2006

★ Rodolfo Parada

★ Gordon Parks

★ Oscar Peterson

★ Trevor Pinnock

★ Mark Podwal, ''Chev.'', 1993; ''Off.'', 1995

★ Jackson Pollock

★ Axelle Red

★ Robert Redford

★ Jean Roba, ''Chev.'', 1992

★ Ned Rorem

★ Diana Ross

★ Salman Rushdie

★ Dariush Safvat

★ John Ralston Saul

★ Leo Schofield ''Chev.'', 2002 Leo Schofield

★ Elisabeth Schwarzkopf

★ Mrinal Sen

★ Bořek Šípek

★ Memphis Slim

★ Patti Smith, ''Cdr.'', 2005

★ Frederica von Stade

★ Danielle Steel

★ Sharon Stone

★ Meryl Streep

★ Han Shaogong

★ Supertramp

★ Uma Thurman

★ Nikolay Tsiskaridze, ''Chev.'', 2006

★ Vangelis

★ Deborah Voigt, ''Chev.''

★ Kenneth R. Weinstein

★ James Welch ^[6]

★ Bruce Willis

★ Alexandru Zub, ''Chev.'', 1995

★ Mike Zwerin

See also

★ Ribbons of the French military and civil awards

References

1. Nominations dans l'ordre des Arts et Lettres de janvier 2005
2. ''Parigi premia il maestro Campanella 'Ufficiale delle Arti e delle Lettere'.'' Short article published by Corriere della Sera, April 11, 2002, page 38.
3. Actor Clooney given French honour
4. Dylan accepts Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres
5. Nominations dans l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres de juillet 2006
6. Acclaimed author James Welch dies

External links

★ Ministère de la culture France

★ constitution of the order