NEW YORK.- The Cultural Counselor of the French Embassy, Kareen Rispal, confered the medal of the Order of Arts and Letters upon visual artist Jenny Holzer, art historian and curator Yve-Alain Bois, and art historian Henri Zerner.

A native of Ohio, Jenny Holzer has received worldwide recognition for her conceptual installation pieces, which imposed thought-provoking texts on every kind of surface. In France, Jenny Holzer has left a permanent mark for her installation at the Palais de Justice de Nantes (2003). In 2001, she also lit up the Pyramide du Louvre, the Seine river and the Pont Neuf, the Eglise Saint-Eustache and the Panthéon in Paris.

An art historian, Yve-Alain Bois has also gained celebrity status as the curator of the Matisse and Picasso exhibition which compared the visions of these two canonical artists. Other curating work includes the very successful Mondrian retrospective at the National Gallery of Art and at the MoMa. Yve-Alain Bois has also founded and edited publications, including October and Macula, which have transformed the study of modern art criticism and theory.

Henri Zerner, an eminent professor from Harvard, was born and raised near Paris. Studying and teaching in the United States, Zerner has become a world-renowned expert in Renaissance art history and a curator of exhibitions of the highest caliber.

A coveted award, the Order of Arts and Letters was established in 1957 to recognize notable artists and writers, and those who have contributed significantly to furthering the arts in France and throughout the world. Awarded twice annually to a limited number of recipients worldwide, the Order of Arts and Letters includes the following recent American recipients among its members: Agnes Gund, Jim Jarmusch, Richard Meier, Robert Paxton, Robert Redford, and Meryl Streep.