Sofía Ímber

Sofía Ímber (8 May 1924 – 20 February 2017) was a Romanian-born Venezuelan journalist and supporter of the arts. She was the founder of the Caracas Museum of Contemporary Art.

Early life She was born in Soroca, Kingdom of Romania (present-day Moldova) in 1924 to Jewish parents Naum Ímber and Ana Barú. She moved to Venezuela with her family when she was four years old, in 1928. Imber married Venezuelan journalist and diplomat Guillermo Meneses.

Career During the 1940s, Imber attended the Universidad de los Andes, studying medicine for three years, after which she returned to Caracas. In Caracas she published articles in several papers and Venezuelan magazines, as well as in Mexico, Colombia and Argentina. which possesses about four thousand pieces, the largest contemporary art collection in Latin America.

Imber headed the museum for almost thirty years until her dismissal by Hugo Chávez during one of his Aló Presidente programs. Fernando Botero was known to send protest letters to the president. Several pieces have since been reported as missing, including Odalisque with Red Pants by Henri Matisse, some of which were rumoured to be held by government officials in their private residences. The missing Matisse was replaced by a copy in its original frame.

Gallery owner Genaro Ambrosino noticed the forgery and made inquiries in Miami. FBI undercover agents recovered the stolen painting on July 17, 2012 from a hotel room. According to Marianela Balbi's account, the work disappeared during a time of "institutional instability".

Awards Imber was the only female recipient of the Premio Nacional de Periodismo de Venezuela (National Journalism Prize of Venezuela). She also received the Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas de Venezuela for her work in advancing the creative process in Venezuela.

Imber received the Order of the Liberator General San Martín and the Picasso Medal by the Unesco, becoming the first Latin American to have been so honored. She was also decorated with, among others, the Legion of Honour (chevalier); the Order of the Aztec Eagle; Cruz de Boyacá; Order of Merit of the Italian Republic; Orden de Mayo (Argentina); Gabriela Mistral Order of Educational and Cultural Merit; Order of Rio Branco; Order of Civil Merit and the Order of Isabella the Catholic.

The Universidad Católica Andrés Bello named one of its research areas as "Sala de Investigación Sofía Imber y Carlos Rangel", as well as naming its journalism faculty after her. Arlette Machado published Mil Sofía in 2012, an edited book interview.

Ímber donated her personal book collection to the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in June 2014. It contains approximately fourteen thousand entries.

In 2014, the Venezuelan American Endowment for the Arts (VAEA) awarded Imber the Paez Medal of Art 2014 for her work as an advocate for art throughout Latin America.