The Asian Art Museum was founded in 1958 in San Francisco, a city with deep cultural and economic connections to the Asia-Pacific region and a population that is nearly one-third Asian and Pacific Islander, long recognized as the nation’s gateway to Asia. When collector Avery Brundage pledged to donate nearly 8,000 Asian artworks to the city, the funds were allocated to construct a new wing of the M.H. de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, which opened to the public in 1966.
After almost four decades in the park, in 2003, the Asian Art Museum moved to the Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art & Culture in the former Main Library building in San Francisco’s Civic Center. The interior of this historic Beaux-Arts building was transformed to showcase both the expanding collection and the groundbreaking exhibitions the museum had become known for.
In 2008, Dr. Jay Xu, curator and noted scholar of ancient Chinese bronzes, was appointed The Barbara Bass Bakar Director and CEO of the Asian Art Museum. Three years later, the museum launched an ambitious new vision with a promise to “awaken the past and inspire the next,” along with a daring new logo signifying “for all.” Key elements of this vision included increasing the visibility of Asian American artists and providing a platform both for contemporary art and for cultural regions of Asia that have been historically underrepresented in museums. Subsequently, the museum has solidified its position both as one of the premier art venues in the Bay Area and as one of the most important centers for Asian art and culture outside Asia.
Today, the Asian Art Museum is home to one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of Asian and Asian American art, comprised of more than 20,000 awe-inspiring artworks. With the addition of the Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang Pavilion and the East West Bank Art Terrace, the museum is now able to mount exhibitions and events at a more ambitious scale than ever before. Dedicated spaces for new artworks and programs with living artists connect the museum’s historic collection to the present day while championing the contributions of Asian and Asian American artists to the canon of contemporary art.
(For a closer look at highlights from our history, relive some of the museum’s most unforgettable moments in a visual timeline created for our 50th anniversary.)
Top image: The Asian Art Museum in Golden Gate Park, 1966
