Jan 14, 2025
An Esteemed Arts Executive and Trailblazing Asian Art Scholar, Lee will Serve as the Institution’s Next Barbara Bass Bakar Director and CEO
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 14, 2025 — The Board of Trustees of the Asian Art Museum Foundation and the Asian Art Commission today appointed Dr. Soyoung Lee as the next Barbara Bass Bakar Director and CEO of San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum—Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art & Culture. She will start in April 2025.
Lee joins the Asian Art Museum from the Harvard Art Museums where she has served as the Landon and Lavinia Clay Chief Curator since 2018. At Harvard, she led the museums’ artistic vision for collections-building and exhibitions, and its highly regarded Museum Training program, mentoring the next generation of museum professionals. She co-curated the exhibitions Future Minded: New Works in the Collection (2024) and Earthly Delights: 6,000 Years of Asian Ceramics (2022).
“This is an exciting moment for the Asian Art Museum,” said Salle Yoo, Chair of the Asian Art Museum Foundation and Asian Art Commission. “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 connection to the past, and a bold vision of where it may lead in the future. She has also demonstrated creativity and openness in bringing art to broader audiences and has successfully led efforts to make museums a place of connection – a core focus of the museum’s mission and strategic plan.”
“I have been a long-time admirer of the Asian Art Museum,” noted Lee. “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. It is thrilling to imagine charting an audacious path for the future of Asian and Asian diasporic art and culture—for everyone to experience.”
Before her time at the Harvard Art Museums, Lee spent 15 years at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As the Met’s first-ever curator for Korean art, Lee transformed the scope and impact of Korean art and culture—at both the museum and, more broadly, in the U.S. cultural landscape. Her publications include Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art (2018), Silla: Korea’s Golden Kingdom (with Denise Patry Leidy; 2013), and Korean Buncheong Ceramics from the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art (with Jeon Seung-chang; 2011).
Lee served as Trustee at Large of the Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC) from 2017 to 2023, including as the Chair of its Finance & Audit Committee (2019–2020). She is an alumna of the Center for Curatorial Leadership (2018) and a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University (2024–25). She received her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in art history from Columbia University.
Born in Jakarta, Indonesia, Lee has lived in Seoul, Tokyo, Stockholm, London, Los Angeles, New York, and Cambridge, MA.
Lee will succeed Dr. Jay Xu, who has led the Asian Art Museum since 2008.
“I want to express our deep appreciation to Dr. Xu – soon to be Director Emeritus – for his tireless dedication and service to the Asian Art Museum,” said Yoo. “The museum was transformed under his visionary leadership and steadfast stewardship for nearly two decades. We look forward to celebrating his many accomplishments in the months ahead.”
Over the last decade, the museum has made a critical expansion into the field of contemporary art, as well as an increased emphasis on the intersection of Asian Art and culture, along with the physical expansion of the Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang Pavilion, adding 8,500 square feet of gallery space for special exhibitions.
“I wholeheartedly embrace the museum’s forward-looking expansion into the contemporary field, especially the inclusion of Asian American artists and experiences,” said Lee. “I welcome the chance to harness the strengths of the Asian Art Museum’s collection and people, to shape together a boldly inventive museum of the 21st century.”
The extensive, international search was conducted by a Search Committee led by Asian Art Commissioner and Foundation Trustee Nanci Nishimura, with support from Russell Reynolds Associates.
About the Asian Art Museum
Located in the heart of San Francisco, the museum is home to one of the world’s finest collections of Asian and Asian American art, with more than 20,000 awe-inspiring works ranging from ancient jades and ceramics to contemporary video installations. Dynamic special exhibitions, cultural celebrations, and public programs for all ages provide rich art experiences that unlock the past and spark questions about the future.
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