San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum will soon have a new director and CEO. The museum announced today the appointment of Soyoung Lee, who most recently worked at the Harvard Art Museums as chief curator.
Way back in April 2023, current director Jay Xu announced his plans to step down this year, giving the museum board plenty of time to launch an international search for his successor. Xu has led the Asian Art Museum since 2008.
Prior to her work at Harvard, Lee spent 15 years at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as its first curator of Korean art. Her most recent exhibitions at Harvard include Future Minded: New Works in the Collection and Earthly Delights: 6,000 Years of Asian Ceramics. Since 2024, she has been a visiting scholar at Stanford University, where she recently gave a talk on the history of collecting Asian art in American museums, and discussed the future of collecting Asian and Asian diaspora art.
“What a singular honor to be leading this premier institution, and in the beautiful city of San Francisco,” Lee was quoted saying in today’s announcement. “It is thrilling to imagine charting an audacious path for the future of Asian and Asian diasporic art and culture — for everyone to experience.”
The Asian Art Museum has grown considerably during the 17 years of Xu’s leadership, both in terms of its collection and square footage. In 2019, the museum raised $100 million to refurbish and expand exhibition spaces. The resulting 13,000-square-foot Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang Pavilion opened in 2021 with an interactive teamLab exhibition.