Wexner Center Director Sherri Geldin Receives Award from French Cultural Ministry

Columbus, OH—Sherri Geldin, director of the Wexner Center for the Arts, has been named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Cultural Ministry in Paris. L’Ordre was created by the French government in 1957 to recognize individuals who have demonstrated a commitment to furthering the arts in France and throughout the world; the highest level of recognition in the Order is the Chevalier. Under Geldin’s leadership, the Wexner Center has supported many French artists and overseen the presentation of a wide array of contemporary art from France in the galleries, on stage and on screen. L’Ordre is given out twice annually to a few hundred people worldwide; recipients have included Robert Redford, Ornette Coleman, Meryl Streep, Richard Meier, and Paul Auster. In other news, Geldin was recently elected Chair of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, based in New York City. She has served as a trustee on the Warhol board for seven years along with a distinguished group of artists, museum directors and curators, business executives, and academic leaders.

Geldin was also recognized in the December “Arts Issue” of Vanity Fair as one of 20 leading international art museum directors, under the category of “Space Explorers.” She has been director of the Wexner Center since 1993, and prior to that, served for many years as associate director of The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.