Connecting Diverse Cultures: An Interview with Smith’s New Curator of Asian Art

Yao Wu sees the college’s new Carol T. Christ Asian Art Gallery as a defined space with a unique global mission.

As the Smith College Museum of Art’s inaugural Jane Chace Carroll Curator of Asian Art, Wu will initiate exhibitions in the new gallery and guide the development of the museum’s distinctive Asian art collection.

The state-of-the-art Christ gallery was named in honor of Smith’s 10th president, a supporter of the arts who helped expand the college’s links to Asia.

Wu aims to make the new gallery a space where visitors can experience the diversity of Asian art, including traditional and contemporary works from many countries on the continent.

Wu—who pursued graduate studies in art history at Williams College and Stanford University—previously served as a curatorial fellow at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City.

At Smith, she will develop in-house, traveling and teaching exhibitions in collaboration with students and faculty, and will also contribute to the growth of a broad donor base for the new Asian art program.

Here’s what Wu had to say about her work at SCMA:

What is unique about your role at SCMA?
“Not many liberal arts colleges and museums have a dedicated curator of Asian art. And too often, Asian art in museums is overshadowed by western art. At Smith, we have identified the need for expertise and advocacy in this area. So we are really pioneers. Asia is quite diverse, geographically and chronologically. My biggest challenge is to find a way to present the diversity of Asian art, but also to give it coherence.”

How will the new gallery help museum visitors view Asian art differently?
“Based on my study of Smith’s collection, as well as conversations and observations with museum visitors, I sense a strong interest in seeing a dialogue between the old and the new in Asian art. This is an approach that seeks to provoke and promote thinking outside the box. Most museums define Asian art by country, chronology or medium. So, you will find a room full of Chinese paintings from a certain period, for instance. We have an opportunity with our unified gallery to explore thematic ways to exhibit the art—themes that can tie different cultures in Asia together.”

Will you be acquiring artworks for the Christ gallery?
“Definitely. When the Asian art program was formulated and my position was endowed, a fund was also created for programs and acquisitions. I’m still studying the more than 1,700 objects in the collection to see how it can be developed. Over 1,000 of those items are Japanese works of art, including prints. More than 500 are Chinese artworks. We also have a select group of Korean, Tibetan, Iranian and South and Southeast Asian art. Gifts from alumnae have resulted in areas of strength in our collection, such as Chinese jades and Japanese prints and teaware. While we aspire to expand the scope of our collection, we have also identified areas where we can concentrate acquisitions. Modern and contemporary Asian art—including photography—for example, is one target area we want to develop further.

How did you become interested in art history?
“I practiced art as a child, but I was always more interested in the intellectual side—in the stories the art could tell. I wasn’t really aware of the discipline of art history when I was choosing a college major. Then, in my junior year, I took my first formal art history class at Beloit College from a Smith alumna—Jo Ortel ’83. I fell in love with the subject because it combines my interest in beautiful objects with the study of the history and context of art. ”

Can you describe the outreach work you’ve been doing on campus?
“In building the collection and planning for exhibits, we are keeping in mind the teaching interests of professors at Smith. Those interests are not just in art, but also in languages, literature, history, anthropology and even chemistry. Last semester, I reached out to the Unity organizations and had conversations with members of the International Students Organization, the Asian Students Association, EKTA, CISCO and others. They gave great feedback on how we can work together. For example, this year’s Your Night at the Museum event for students incorporates a dance group invited by EKTA. There are other programs on the Smith campus we want to collaborate with, such as the special library collections that have exhibition potential. We’re also interested in long-term collaborations with the five colleges.”

What’s the key thing you want people to know about Asian art at SCMA?
“I want people to be drawn to the content as well as the form, and to look at these artworks in the same way they would their Western counterparts. I want to be sure people are not just reading the art literally, but taking in elements such as color, light, composition. We are going to be focusing on Asian art that tells a story and reflects how vibrant and active the production of art has been in Asia.”