Asian Art Museum of San Francisco旧金山亚洲艺术博物馆

Type

Museums

Location

United States · California · San Francisco · In the Civic Center district, facing the San Francisco Civic Center; full name includes the Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture

Coordinates

37.7803, -122.4166 Map ↗

First built

1966 · Holdings exceeding 20,000 objects, the earliest about 6,000 years old; more than 2,000 objects on permanent rotating display

Overview

The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco was established in 1966; its full name includes the Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture. Its holdings exceed 20,000 objects, encompassing South Asia, Iran, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Himalayas, China, Korea, and Japan, with the earliest pieces about six thousand years old, and more than 2,000 objects on permanent rotating display — making it one of the largest standing collections of Asian art in the world. The museum is located in the city with the oldest and largest Chinese community in North America, and its Chinese art collection stands in a suggestive contrast to the living religious life of San Francisco's Chinatown (Tin How Temple, Kong Chow Temple, and others): the former presents Daoist imagery and artifacts within an art-historical framework, while the latter is living religious practice. Since the late twentieth century, an independent scholarly focus on Daoist art has gradually taken shape among North American museums, and this museum has participated in that development. No clear public record exists of a specific inventory of this museum's Daoist holdings; verification should be sought through the official website asianart.org.

Highlights

• Holdings exceeding 20,000 objects, spanning about 6,000 years
• One of the largest standing collections of Asian art in the world
• Stands in contrast to the living religious practice of San Francisco's Chinatown
• Established in 1966