Asian Art Museum of San Francisco has appointed Soyoung Lee as Barbara Bass Bakar director and CEO, the board of trustees announced. Lee succeeds Jay Xu, who has led the Asian Art Museum since 2008.
Lee joins from the Harvard Art Museums, where she has been a curator since 2018. Lee also spent 15 years at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as the Met’s first dedicated curator for Korean art. She was a trustee for the Association of Art Museum Curators (2017-2023) and a visiting scholar at Stanford University (2024–25). Born in Jakarta, Lee studied from undergraduate through to her Ph.D. in art history at Columbia University.
‘What a singular honour 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,’ Lee said in a statement.
‘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,’ Asian Art Museum Foundation and Asian Art Commission chair Salle Yoo said of the appointment. ‘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.’
Lee begins in April.
