Brandeis Alumni, Family and Friends

Lizbeth Krupp Named Chair of Rose Art Museum’s Board of Advisors

September 17, 2013

By David E. Nathan

Lizbeth Krupp, a leading patron of the arts and collector, has been named chair of the Rose Art Museum’s Board of Advisors, Brandeis President Frederick Lawrence announced.

Krupp will serve a three-year term as volunteer leader of the Rose, home to one of New England’s principal collections of modern and contemporary art. She is a trustee of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; board member of the American Friends of the Israel Museum; trustee emeritus of the Boston Ballet; and director of the Krupp Family Foundation. In addition, Krupp formerly served on the advisory board for the American Repertory Theatre and co-chaired the New Center for Arts and Culture Task Force.

“We are excited Liz will be leading the Rose Board of Advisors at this important juncture in the museum’s history,” Lawrence said. “Liz will partner with Christopher Bedford, the Henry and Lois Foster Director of the Rose, to integrate the Rose further into campus life and to make the museum a destination for art lovers in the Greater Boston community and beyond.”

“I have been given a unique opportunity within the context of this museum’s recent history to work with Chris and the newly formed Board of Advisors to help chart its future,” Krupp said. “As chair, I look forward to helping build the Rose’s reputation within the art world and communicating to supporters that the museum is here to stay.”

Krupp succeeds George Wachter ’72, P’12, Sotheby’s worldwide co-chair of Old Master paintings.

“Liz’s passion for the arts in general and the Rose in particular makes her an excellent choice to serve in this position,” said Provost Steve A.N. Goldstein ’78, MA’78. “As a collector and a patron of the arts, she has a unique combination of experiences that will make her a real asset to the Rose.”

While a student at Wellesley College, and later, as a member of its Davis Museum Advisory Council, Krupp saw the integral role that a great college museum can have in campus life. “It’s an indispensable asset to a college education,” she said.

In addition to increasing faculty and student involvement with the instructional mission of the Rose, she also hopes to boost the museum’s off-campus profile.

“I see myself as an ambassador and advocate for the Rose. It is a virtual treasure trove of modern and contemporary art, perhaps the greatest collection of post-World War II art in any university museum in this country,” said Krupp. “Chris has already brought incredible dynamism and vision to the museum; one can almost feel the energy with which he has infused the Rose since his arrival.”

Krupp grew up in Miami Beach surrounded by art. Her parents, particularly her mother, nurtured an appreciation for the arts. In her husband, George, a Boston business executive and Brandeis trustee, she found the perfect partner to share her life and love of the arts. They have long believed in the “importance of art within education and, more broadly, as a transformative tool for changing lives,” she said.

The Krupps built their collection with paintings by late 19th- and early 20th- century American artists, though in recent years they have focused on contemporary art: paintings, sculpture and video. They also collect Greek antiquities, journalistic photography, rare books and antique dolls.

“Liz’s intelligence, sophistication and passion, together with a firm footing in the practicalities of museum work, make her the ideal candidate to lead the Rose board over the next three years,” Bedford said. “She has been an inspiration to me already, and it’s an honor to work closely with her as we write this next, vital chapter in a great museum’s history.”