Nadia Samdani MBE, the co-founder of the Samdani Art Foundation and Dhaka Art Summit, has been awarded with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters) by the French Ministry of Culture.
She was given the Chevalier (Knight) rank through the order on Wednesday at the residence of the French Ambassador in Gulshan, said a press release issued on Thursday.
The award is given to distinguished individuals for their creativity in the cultural spheres or by their support for the distribution of knowledge and works that form the wealth of cultural heritage.
The award was handed over to Nadia Samdani by French Ambassador Marie Masdupuy on behalf of the French Government.
CourtesyPreviously Nadia Samdani MBE was bestowed with the Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) title by Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 to recognize her contribution to the art and culture in Bangladesh, South Asia and UK.
Her investiture ceremony for MBE was held in Buckingham palace on 23rd February 2023, where she received her title from Prince William of Wales.
In 2011, with husband Rajeeb Samdani, she established the Samdani Art Foundation to support the work of Bangladesh and South Asia's contemporary artists and architects and increase their exposure.
As part of this initiative, she founded DAS, which has since completed five successful editions under her leadership.
She is a member of Tate's South Asia Acquisitions Committee, Tate's International Council and Alserkal Avenue's Programming Committee, one of the founding members of The Harvard University Lakshmi Mittal South Asia Institute's Arts Advisory Council and member of Asia Society's Advisory Committee.
In 2017, with her husband Rajeeb, she was the first South Asian arts patron to receive the prestigious Montblanc de la Culture Arts Patronage Award.
She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to global art philanthropy and supporting the arts in South Asia and the United Kingdom.
She has also received the Knight of the Order of the Arts and Letters by the Cultural Ministry of France.
Since 2015 she has been on the ArtReview Power 100 list since 2015, recognizing her contribution to developing the art scene of Bangladesh and connecting it with the wider world.
A second-generation collector, she began her own collection at the age of 22.
She collects both Bangladeshi and international art, reflecting her experience as both a proud Bangladeshi and a global citizen.
Nadia has written about collecting for Art Asia Pacific and Live Mint and has been a guest speaker at art fairs and institutions including the Royal Ontario Museum, Art Basel, Frieze, Harvard University and UC Berkeley among other institutions.
Works from the Samdanis' collection have been lent to institutions and festivals including: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2019); Para Site, Hong Kong (2018); Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw (2018); documenta 14, Kassel and Athens, (2017); Shanghai Biennale (2017); Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA), Oslo (2016); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2015); Kunstsammlung Nordrhein, Düsseldorf (2015); Gwangju Biennale (2014); and Kochi -Muziris Biennale (2014), Hayward Gallery (2022), London and Art Jameel (2023), Dubai.
