The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco has appointed Dr. Soyoung Lee as its new director and CEO. Lee will succeed Jay Xu, who has led the museum since 2008.
Lee comes to the Asian Art Museum from the Harvard Art Museums, where she has served as the Landon and Lavinia Clay Chief Curator since 2018. In that role, she led the museum’s artistic vision for collections and exhibitions, as well as its Museum Training program. “As a leading scholar of Asian art and culture, Dr.
New director at Asian Art Museum
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,” said Salle Yoo, Chair of the Asian Art Museum Foundation and Asian Art Commission. Prior to her tenure at Harvard, Lee spent 15 years at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
As the Met’s first-ever curator for Korean art, she transformed the scope and impact of Korean art and culture, both at the museum and more broadly in the U.S.
“What a singular honor to be leading this premier institution, and in the beautiful city of San Francisco, with its significant connections to the Asia-Pacific region and thriving pan-Asian community,” Lee 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.”
Lee was born in Jakarta and received her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in art history from Columbia University. Her publications include “Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art,” “Silla: Korea’s Golden Kingdom,” and “Korean Buncheong Ceramics from the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art.”
Lee will begin her new role at the Asian Art Museum in April 2025.
The museum, located in San Francisco’s Civic Center, is home to one of the most comprehensive Asian art collections in the world.