NEW ORLEANS – The Honorable Rodolphe Sambou, Consul General of France in Louisiana, presented Susan M. Taylor, The Montine McDaniel Freeman Director of the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA), with the Legion of Honor at the rank of Chevalier in a ceremony on Nov. 5.
The National Order of the Legion of Honor is the highest decoration in France awarded for military and civil merits.
“Since its creation in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, the Legion of Honour has recognized men and women, in France and beyond, whose talent, commitment, or exemplary actions have contributed to the influence of French values and to friendship among nations,” said Sambou. “It symbolizes the gratitude of the French Republic for a life marked by excellence, dedication, and a profound attachment to the universal ideals it upholds.”
This designation from the Republic of France celebrates Taylor’s longstanding commitment to strengthening cultural and artistic ties between France and the United States.
Strengthening Cultural Ties with France
Under Taylor’s leadership, NOMA organized The Orléans Collection in 2018, timed with New Orleans’s tricentennial. The exhibition brought together, for the first time in centuries, forty European masterpieces from the collection of the city’s namesake, Philippe II, Duc d’Orléans.
Her tenure has also deepened the museum’s relationships with French cultural institutions. In 2025, NOMA opened Nicolas Floc’h: Fleuves-Océan, Mississippi Watershed, the first museum exhibition developed from a residency through Villa Albertine, a division of the French Embassy. Taylor served as a member of Villa Albertine’s artist selection jury in 2024. Earlier projects, including Camille Henrot’s 2013 installation Cities of Ys, were supported by grants from the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, which also enabled Taylor to visit artist studios in Paris.
Taylor welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron to NOMA during his official visit to New Orleans in December 2022, where he delivered remarks on the importance of the French language in South Louisiana. In 2023, the French Ministry of Culture promoted her to the rank of Officier in the Order of Arts and Letters, recognizing her contributions to arts and culture internationally.
“There are longstanding cultural connections between New Orleans and France,” said Taylor. “At NOMA, we are committed to celebrating the global from the unique vantage point of our city. It is an honor for the Consulate General of France in Louisiana to support our shared initiatives.”
Expanding NOMA’s Impact in New Orleans
Since her appointment in 2010, Taylor has overseen major capital projects and programmatic expansions designed to position NOMA as a central hub for cultural engagement. The museum now stewards a collection of nearly 50,000 works with notable strengths in African art, photography, decorative arts, and Japanese art, alongside important American and French holdings and an expanding contemporary collection.
Recent exhibitions—including Black Orpheus: Jacob Lawrence and the Mbari Club, Called to the Camera: Black American Studio Photographers, and Changing Course: Reflections on New Orleans Histories—have broadened NOMA’s national profile and reflected a commitment to presenting diverse narratives.
Taylor has also advanced significant investments in public spaces and community programming. In 2019, NOMA doubled the size of the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, an outdoor, 12-acre landscape featuring more than 100 works by artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Ida Kohlmeyer, Maya Lin, Teresita Fernández, and Hank Willis Thomas.
The garden—free and open seven days a week—has become a major public asset within City Park, integrating water-management strategies that support the surrounding environment and hosting festivals, performances, wellness classes, and other outdoor programs.
Projects such as the Lapis Center for the Arts and the renovation of the Coleman Courtyard have expanded the museum’s capacity to host events and educational initiatives for audiences of all ages, reinforcing NOMA’s role in the city’s cultural and economic life.
Taylor is a past president of the Association of Art Museum Directors and serves on the board of trustees and exhibition committee for the American Federation of Arts. Her previous roles include leadership positions at the Davis Museum and Cultural Center at Wellesley College and the Princeton University Art Museum, as well as service on boards including the Corning Museum of Glass and the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau.
