Korean art at MFA Boston

The Korea Foundation spent April 13 to 19 hosting Museum of Fine Arts, Boston director Pierre Terjanian for a program built around Korean art and museum ties. (x.com) Terjanian has led the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston as its Ann and Graham Gund Director and chief executive officer since July 1, 2025, after the museum announced his appointment on April 10, 2025. (mfa.org) The Boston museum has a deep base for that work: it says its Korean holdings include more than 1,000 objects, from the Bronze Age to the present, with major strengths in celadon, lacquer, metalwork, and Buddhist painting. (collections.mfa.org) The museum has also described its Korean holdings as among the largest and finest in the United States, and its Arts of Korea gallery was renovated with support from the Korea Foundation before reopening on November 16, 2012. (mfa.org) That gives the April visit a longer institutional history than a single week of talks. The Korea Foundation says it funds activities that promote “mutual understanding between Korea and the world,” and the Museum of Fine Arts has already tied Korean collection research to public lectures and courses. (apply.kf.or.kr, mfa.org) One recent example came in April 2024, when the museum ran a lecture on “The MFA’s Korean Art Collection and Hallyu!” that connected historical Korean objects in Boston to contemporary Korean popular culture. (mfa.org) The Museum of Fine Arts says its global collection totals nearly 500,000 works across more than 100 galleries, which gives Korean art a place inside one of the largest museum platforms in the United States. (mfa.org, mfa.org) The April 13 to 19 program put that platform in front of a Korea Foundation audience and framed museum collaboration itself as part of Korea’s overseas cultural outreach. (x.com, apply.kf.or.kr)