Margaret F. Williams Memorial Fellowship in Asian Art

The Asia Foundation and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco are pleased to announce Arlette Quynh-Anh Tran and Do Nguyen Tuong Vi (Vicky Do) as the 2022 Margaret F. Williams Memorial Fellows in Asian Art. Arlette Quynh-Anh Tran is the curator and director of Post Vidai, a unique and significant collection of Vietnamese contemporary art based in G… Read more

In partnership with the Asian Art Museum, The Asia Foundation announces a call for applications for the 2022 Margaret F. Williams Memorial Fellowship in Asian Art, a program supporting exchange between diverse, emerging curatorial voices focusing on Asian or Asian American art. Applications will be accepted from January 31 to March 1, 2022, with th… Read more

Co-hosted in partnership with the Asian Art Museum in celebration of the Margaret F. Williams Memorial Fellowship in Asian Art. A conversation with Indian artist Jas Charanjiva about her work “Don’t Mess with Me,” currently on view at the Asian Art Museum. A panel discussed sexual violence against women in South Asia and how artists and organizatio… Read more

The Asia Foundation announces the selection of Thuy Tran, a specialist in contemporary art and community-based engagement, as a 2020 Margaret F. Williams Memorial Fellow. She is an alum of Georgetown University and has received several grants and fellowships for her work focused on social justice, equity, and community dialogue including the Ebony… Read more

In November, preeminent Chinese archaeologist, Li Zebin, gave a presentation at The Asia Foundation in San Francisco about the excavation he helped lead on what is considered one of the most important archaeological discoveries in China in recent years…

Ms. Nu Mra Zan, Consultant, Ministry of Culture, Myanmar and Ms. Mie Mie Thet N’we, Deputy Director, Yangon National Museum, observed various aspects of museum management, curatorship, and outreach during their professional affiliation at the Asian Art Museum. This core activity was supplemented with site visits to several smaller ethnic and commun… Read more

The Margaret F. Williams Memorial fellowship in Asian Art, along with Brayton Wilbur, Jr. Memorial Fellowships in Asian Art, supported the participation of eight museum directors from Asia and the U.S. in the second biennial forum. Organized by the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the discussions focused on ways of making museums more relevant to… Read more

Mr. Timothy Rub, Director and CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, met with representatives of major museums in China, Japan and Korea on his fellowship to discuss cooperation and exchanges with the Philadelphia Museum of Art and plans for the second Director’s Forum at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. Referring to the museum’s significant… Read more

Mr. Tsuda Tetsuei, Head of the Art Research Materials and Dr. Sarai Mai, Senior Researcher at The National Institute of Cultural Properties in Tokyo, conducted research on two eighth-century hollow lacquer sculptures, Bonten and Taishakuten in the Asian Art Museum’s collection during their two-week fellowship. The researchers discovered that many o… Read more

In November, 2011, representatives of important museums of Asian art from Asia and the U.S. met in San Francisco for a pioneering Directors Forum organized by The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. The Margaret F. Williams Memorial Fellows in Asian Art Program supported the participation of East Asian museum directors in the Forum, where they share… Read more

A leading specialist in Chinese ceramics, Curator of Chinese Art at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco Ms. Li He’s fellowship enabled her to attend a conference on early white-glazed porcelain in Henan, China, organized jointly by the Henan Provincial Museum and the Palace Museum in Beijing; followed by a symposium in Taipei, Taiwan on the colle… Read more

Prior to becoming Director of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco in 2008, Dr. Jay Xu was Pritzker Chairman of the Department of Asian and Ancient Art at The Art Institute of Chicago. He is a dedicated scholar of Chinese antiquities and a curator committed to sharing his extensive knowledge of Asian art with a wide audience. The award of the Marg… Read more

As the second Fellow from Asia, Dr. Lee Nae-ok, Head of the Asian Art Dept, the National Museum of Korea, and Director of the Daegu National Museum, collaborated with Dr. Cheeyun Kwon, the Asian Art Museum’s Curator of Korean Art in reviewing the Korean collection. His three-week affiliation aided preparations for a planned rotation of the exhibiti… Read more

The first recipient of the fellowship, Dr. Yoko Woodson, the Asian Art Museum’s Curator of Japanese Art, traveled to Japan for several weeks. During her visit, she worked with curators at Eisei Bunko Museum of the Hosokawa Family, examining the collection and helping to identify objects for display in the Asian Art Museum’s 2009 exhibit, Lords of t… Read more

Deputy Director Emeritus of the Tokyo National Museum Mr. Yasuhiro Nishioka, an internationally renowned specialist in Chinese lacquers, was the first Margaret F. Williams Fellow from Asia. Mr. Nishioka conducted research on the Asian Art Museum’s extensive collection of Chinese lacquer ware, one of three major collections in the U.S.. The Museum p… Read more