Sofía Ímber facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sofía Ímber
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Sofía Ímber, 2008
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| Born | 8 May 1924 Soroca, Kingdom of Romania (present-day Moldova)
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| Died | 20 February 2017 (aged 92) |
| Alma mater | University of the Andes |
| Occupation | Journalist, activist |
| Spouse(s) | Guillermo Meneses (1911-1978) Carlos Rangel (1929-1988) |
Sofía Ímber (born May 8, 1924 – died February 20, 2017) was a famous journalist from Venezuela. She was born in Romania. Sofía Ímber was also a big supporter of the arts. She founded a very important place called the Contemporary Art Museum of Caracas.
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Early Life and Family
Sofía Ímber was born in 1924 in a town called Soroca. This town was in Romania, but it is now part of Moldova. Her parents, Naum Ímber and Ana Barú, were Jewish. When Sofía was four years old, in 1928, her family moved to Venezuela.
Sofía had a sister named Lya Imber. Lya was the first woman in Venezuela to become a doctor. Sofía Ímber had four children: three daughters named Sara, Adriana, and Daniela, and a son named Pedro Guillermo.
Sofía Ímber's Career
In the 1940s, Sofía Ímber started studying medicine. She went to the University of the Andes for three years. After that, she moved back to Caracas.
In Caracas, Sofía began writing for many newspapers and magazines. Her articles were published in Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina. She became a well-known writer.
Sofía Ímber also worked in television and radio. She created and hosted a TV show called Buenos días. She also had radio shows like Sólo con Sofía and La Venezuela Posible. She wrote for major Venezuelan newspapers such as El Nacional and El Universal. In 1971, she published a book of her articles called Yo la intransigente.
Founding the Art Museum
One of Sofía Ímber's biggest achievements was creating the Contemporary Art Museum of Caracas in 1973. This museum has a huge collection of art, with about four thousand pieces. It is one of the largest modern art collections in all of Latin America.
Sofía Ímber led the museum for almost 30 years. She was very dedicated to it. Later, there was a change in leadership at the museum. Some artists, like Fernando Botero, were sad about this change.
Sadly, some art pieces from the museum went missing. One famous painting, Odalisque with Red Pants by Henri Matisse, was stolen. A copy was put in its place. A gallery owner noticed the fake painting and reported it. The FBI helped find the real painting. It was recovered in 2012.
Awards and Recognition
Sofía Ímber received many important awards for her work. She was the only woman to win Venezuela's National Journalism Prize. She also won the National Plastic Arts Prize for helping art grow in Venezuela.
She received international honors too. These included the Order of the Liberator General San Martín from Argentina and the Picasso Medal from UNESCO. She was the first person from Latin America to get the Picasso Medal. Other awards included the Legion of Honour from France and the Order of the Aztec Eagle from Mexico.
A university in Venezuela, the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, named a research area and its journalism school after her. In 2014, Sofía Ímber donated her personal book collection to this university. It had about 14,000 books.
In 2014, the Venezuelan American Endowment for the Arts gave Sofía Ímber the Paez Medal of Art. This award recognized her efforts in supporting art across Latin America.
See also
In Spanish: Sofía Ímber para niños
