Christina Yu Yu '02 was recently named the Matsutaro Shoriki Chair, Art of Asia at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, starting this July, 2018. Yu Yu has been the director of USC's Pacific Asia Museum since 2014, and she had previously held positions at LACMA, the Chambers Fine Art gallery, and Japan's Yokohama Museum of Art.

 

The Pacific Asia Museum transitioned from a small, independent museum and cultural center to part of the University of Southern California system in 2013. Part of Yu Yu's task as museum director was to help broaden the institution's scope in terms of exhibitions and learning, and to introduce it to a much larger community. The museum's collection also expanded during this time. The first Asian-American director of the PAM, Yu Yu was able to shepherd the museum into its new position as an important part of USC's academic commission.

 

At the MFA, Yu Yu will oversee the Art of Asia collection, which features over 100,000 artworks from China, Japan, Korea, South and Southeast Asia, and the Islamic world. She will also work within the MFA and collaboratively with other institutions to create and implement programming to showcase the collection and engage with visitors.

 

An Art History major at Wellesley, Yu Yu went on to earn her master's degree at Boston University and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago with a focus on Chinese Yuan dynasty paintings; her more recent scholarship has covered both historic and contemporary Chinese and Asian art. Her career in museum work and curation began with a graduate internship at the MFA, so it particularly wonderful to see her returning to the museum. The Wellesley College Art Department is thrilled to have an alum returning to the east coast, and we all look forward to the exhibitions and programming to come from the Art of Asia department under Yu Yu's leadership at the MFA.

 

See the Museum of Fine Art's press release about the hiring here.