Wendy Yu Endows Lead Curatorial Position at Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute
By Sophie von Wunster
Andrew Bolton, who is the curator of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, will assume the title of Wendy Yu Curator in Charge.
On March 7, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art announced the endowment of the position of curator in charge at the museum’s Costume Institute. The donation was made by Chinese investor and philanthropist Wendy Yu, on behalf of her Hong Kong-based company Yu Holdings and its dedicated division, Yu Fashion. The endowment will exist in perpetuity.
The position’s first incumbent is Andrew Bolton, who is currently the Costume Institute’s curator. Bolton first joined the museum in 2002. Since then, he has organized blockbuster exhibitions such as “China: Through the Looking Glass” in 2015; “Manus x Machina” in 2016; and most recently, “Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-between.” He will assume the title of Wendy Yu Curator in Charge, effective immediately.
With the establishment of the position, Yu aims to support the fashion industry and facilitate cross-cultural exchanges between the United States and China. In collaboration with the Costume Institute, Yu Fashion will be launching a program of educational initiatives in China, among them workshops led by Bolton to offer insights into the curatorial process. The company will also establish a consortium of Chinese donors who will help fund acquisitions by the Costume Institute.
Founded in 1937 as the Museum of Costume Art and later merged with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1946, the institution’s collection comprises more than 35,000 costumes and accessories, representative of five continents and seven centuries of fashion’s evolution.
Sophie von Wunster is an editorial intern at ArtAsiaPacific.
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