WILLIAMSTOWN, MASS.- Denise Littlefield Sobel was recently selected to serve as the chair of the Board of Trustees of the
Clark Art Institute, effective July 1, 2022. Sobel is the first woman to lead the Clark’s Board of Trustees.
Sobel is a philanthropist with a longstanding interest in the visual and performing arts and has served on the Clark’s Board of Trustees since 2014. She has been a member of several Board committees for the Clark and, most recently, served as vice chair from 2021–22. Sobel has also taken a leadership role in supporting a number of exhibitions at the Clark, including Rodin in the United States: Confronting the Modern (currently on view); Ground/work; Renoir: The Body, The Senses; Jennifer Steinkamp: Blind Eye; Women Artists in Paris, 1850–1900; Helen Frankenthaler: As in Nature; Monet | Kelly and VanGogh and Nature.
“It is a tremendous honor for me to assume the leadership of the Clark’s Board of Trustees,” said Sobel. “As we embark on a new strategic plan, the Clark is working to deepen our involvement within our immediate community and extend our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility; enrich our ongoing scholarly connections; and expand the significance and impact of our exhibition program. We have ambitious plans, and I am honored and delighted to have been entrusted with stewarding the progress of these exciting initiatives.”
In addition to her involvement with the Clark, Sobel is an active supporter of a number of cultural venues across the nation, supporting exhibitions and programming at several museums, including the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; the Barnes Museum, Philadelphia; SFMoMA; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Williams College Museum of Art; Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Frick Madison, New York; the Morgan Library Garden, New York; Bennington Museum, Vermont; and the Jewish Museum, New York.
A passionate advocate for dance, she is also an active supporter of New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, the School of the American Ballet, the Joffrey Ballet, and the Glimmerglass Festival. She has also served as the Vice Chair of the American Friends of Les Étés de la Danse, a Paris-based summer dance festival.
In 2019, the French government presented Sobel with the country’s highest civilian honor, naming her a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur in recognition of her extraordinary contributions to French culture.
A native of San Francisco and a resident of New York City, Sobel is active in a number of charities in both cities and has served on many other nonprofit boards, including the American Red Cross of Greater New York, which recently honored her with the 2022 Humanitarian Award; Congregation Rodeph Sholom, New York; and Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre, where she has been honored for her ongoing support of dance programs and historic preservation.
In 2013 Sobel created the Tikkun Olam Foundation, Inc., where she serves as president, focusing on women's health, gender justice, and reproductive rights issues. In addition, she is at the forefront of a number of other initiatives to promote diversity within the arts and serves on several diversity committees for various nonprofits.
Sobel earned a BA from Williams College in 1975 and was one of the first women to graduate from the formerly all-men’s college. Her commitment to her alma mater and passion for architecture led to Sobel’s support for many renovation projects at Williams, including the Chapin Concert Hall, the Jewish Religious Center, the Spencer Studio Art Building, and the costume shop at the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance.
