Presentation
of the Leonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts

(Monterrey, Nuevo León, November 24, 2007)

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.

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, (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.

Born in Saint-Amand-Les-Eaux, France in 1948, 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.