Art historian to head Seoul Museum of Art

New director plans to enhance publicity of art


Kim Hong-hee, former head of Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, was appointed the director of Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) last week.

Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Wednesday that Kim would begin her two-year term the following day. Kim was tentatively decided on as the new head of SeMA in December last year.

Kim studied French literature at Ewha Womans University, earned an M.A. in Western art history at Concordia University in Canada and a Ph.D. in art history at Hongik University in Seoul. She served as the head of Ssamzie Space for several years since 1999, the artistic director of the 2006 Gwangju Biennale, and as the head of Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art from 2006 to 2010. 

Kim Hong-hee

Her husband is Cheon Ho-seon, director of the Culture Leader Institute and former head of Ssamzie-gil, a cultural complex in Insa-dong, central Seoul.

She will work to enhance the publicity of art and cultural communication within the society as well as lead SeMA to become an internationally recognized museum, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

By Park Min-young 
(claire@heraldcorp.com)