Jay Xu (; born 1963) is a Chinese-born American museum director, art historian, and curator. He was the first Chinese-American curator of a major museum in the United States, serving as director and CEO of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco from 2008 to 2025.

Early life

Jay Xu was born in 1963 in Shanghai, China. He attended

Shanghai University Shanghai University (SHU) is a municipal public university in Shanghai, China. It is owned by the Shanghai Municipal People's Government. The university is part of Project 211 and the Double First-Class Construction. Shanghai University mai ...

. Xu worked as an assistant to the museum director Ma Chengyuan at the

Shanghai Museum The Shanghai Museum is a municipal public museum of ancient Chinese art, situated on the People's Square in the Huangpu District, Shanghai, Huangpu District of Shanghai, China. It is funded by thShanghai Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau Reb ...

. Later, due to work reasons, he came into contact with Robert Bagley, a professor at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

who came to Shanghai for academic exchanges.

Career

Xu moved to the United States in 1990, pursuing a M.A. degree and PhD program at Princeton University. After graduation, he worked as a research fellow at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, from 1995 until 1996. Xu worked as the curator of Chinese art at the

Seattle Art Museum The Seattle Art Museum (commonly known as SAM) is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The museum operates three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum in ...

from 1996 to 2003; and as the head of the Asian art department and chairman of the Department of Asian and Ancient Art at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

from 2003 to 2006. Since June 2008, Xu has served as the director and CEO of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, succeeding Emily Sano. Under his leadership, the Asian Art Museum avoided a financial crisis, growing its collection with more than 2,200 new art acquisitions and hosting at least 100 exhibitions. In 2017, Xu led a fundraising campaign to fund the museum's building renovation and expansion. In 2020, during the Black Lives Matter protests, the museum removed the bust of

Avery Brundage Avery Brundage (; September 28, 1887 – May 8, 1975) was the fifth president of the International Olympic Committee, serving from 1952 to 1972, the only American and first non-European to attain that position. Brundage is remembered as a z ...

, someone accused of being a Nazi sympathizer and a racist. During this time, the museum also decided to critically examine the provenance of the artwork in the collection. In April 2023, Xu announced plans to step down from the Asian Art Museum in 2025, with Soyoung Lee officially replacing him as director and CEO in January 2025.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Xu, Jay 1963 births Living people Shanghai University alumni Princeton University alumni Chinese emigrants to the United States American art curators American art historians Chinese art curators Chinese art historians People from Shanghai People from San Francisco