Walters Art Museum Hires New Curator of Asian Art Collection

For Immediate Release
Contact: Gabriella Souza, Communications Manager
[email protected], 410-547-9000, ext. 277

Baltimore, MD— The Walters Art Museum is pleased to announce the appointment of Dany Chan as Assistant Curator of Asian Art.

Chan joined the curatorial team on May 8 with the priority of reinstalling the Asian Art collections, which encompass works spanning 2,000 years and artistic traditions from diverse cultures and regions across India, Nepal, Tibet, China, Korea, Japan, Myanmar, Thailand, and Cambodia. Among her other responsibilities she will work on cataloguing of the Walters’ collection of Chinese ceramics, last published in 1894.

“The Walters is known internationally for our Asian Art collection,” said Julia Marciari-Alexander, Andrea B. and John H. Laporte Director. “As a specialist in Chinese art, Dany brings a wealth of experience and passion about art from across Asia to the Walters curatorial team.”

Chan previously worked at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco where she curated the 2017 exhibition Flower Power, conducting research across the museum’s collections of over 18,000 works of art to connect Asia’s millennia-old traditions of floral symbolism to the American “flower power” movement of the 1960s. In addition, she organized the traveling exhibition Roads of Arabia (2014-15) and co-curated Shanghai (2010), both at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. She has published numerous articles in scholarly journals on Chinese ceramics, textiles, bronzes, paintings, and contemporary art, as well as reviews of exhibitions for art news website Hyperallergic. Chan was a 2006 Andrew W. Mellon Fellow.

“I am excited and honored to work with Dany to bring fresh perspectives to these collections and to see them fully reinstalled,” said Ellie Hughes, Deputy Director of Art and Program.

Chan received a bachelor of arts from Colby College and a master of arts from Brown University. She is a resident of Baltimore along with her husband and two children.

“I’m inspired by the Walters’ mission and the chance to tell stories that connect the museum’s visitors with the history and beauty of Asian Art,” said Chan.

About the Walters Art Museum
The Walters Art Museum is a cultural hub in the heart of Baltimore, located in the city’s Mount Vernon neighborhood. The museum’s collection spans more than seven millennia, from 5000 BCE to the 21st century, and encompasses 36,000 objects from around the world. Walking through the museum’s historic buildings, visitors encounter a stunning panorama of thousands of years of art, from romantic 19th-century images of French gardens to mesmerizing Ethiopian icons, richly illuminated Qur’ans and Gospel books, ancient roman sarcophagi, and serene images of the Buddha. Since its founding, the Walters’ mission has been to bring art and people together to create a place where people of every background can be touched by art. As part of this commitment, admission to the museum and special exhibitions is always free.

Free admission to the Walters Art Museum is made possible by the combined generosity of individual members, friends and benefactors, foundations, corporations, and grants from the City of Baltimore, Maryland State Arts Council, Citizens of Baltimore County, and Howard County Government and Howard County Arts Council.

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