A new director and CEO has taken the helm at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.
Soyoung Lee, a specialist in Korean ceramics, was named to the position in January. The formal title is the “Barbara Bass Bakar Director and CEO,” named for a benefactor.
She took on the role on April 15 after the retirement of longtime CEO Jay Xu, who had served as the Museum’s director since 2008.
Lee had been the chief curator at the Harvard Museums since 2018, where she led the museums’ collections building and exhibitions and oversaw their museum training program.
Prior to that, she served as the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s first curator for Korean Art, and worked at the Met for 15 years, according to the Asian Art Museum.
Lee said in a statement after she was named to the position that she had long admired the Asian Art Museum.
“What a singular honor to be leading this premier institution, and in the beautiful city of San Francisco, which has significant connections to the Asia-Pacific region and is home to a thriving pan-Asian community,” she said. “It is thrilling to imagine charting an audacious path for the future of Asian and Asian diasporic art and culture — for everyone to experience.”
Historian, author and Asian art scholar
A native of Jakarta, Indonesia, Lee earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in art history from Columbia University.
Lee served as a trustee on the Association of Art Museum Curators from 2017 to 2023 and is the author of several books, including “Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art,” according to the Asian Art Museum.
Salle Yoo, chair of the Asian Art Museum Foundation and the Asian Art Commission, said it was an “exciting moment” for the museum.
“As a leading scholar of Asian art and culture, Dr. Lee brings a deep understanding of what is happening in Asian and Asian American art now, its connections to the past, and a bold vision of where it may lead in the future,” Yoo said.
“… Dr. Lee brings a deep understanding of what is happening in Asian and Asian American art now, its connections to the past, and a bold vision of where it may lead in the future.”
Salle Yoo, Asian Art Museum Foundation chair
The museum said in a news release that Lee would spend her first days building relationships across the Bay Area, listening and learning.
She will be on hand to greet guests at the museum during its First Free Sunday event on May 4.
Xu announced in 2023 that he would retire in 2025. He is an expert in Chinese Bronze Age cultures and archeology who oversaw the museum’s “For All” transformation project, which included raising $100 million for a new wing and pavilion, which opened in 2021.
The museum’s endowment quadrupled under his leadership to $85 million, according to a news release from the museum. He also oversaw a rebranding of the museum in 2012, and expanded the museum’s mission to highlight the work of Asian American art, culture, and history.
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