Denver Art Museum Announces New Curatorial Appointees

In the culmination of an international search, Hyonjeong “HJ” Kim Han was selected as the museum’s new Joseph de Heer Curator of Asian Art. Han will oversee the museum’s Asian art collection—which includes objects from China, India, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia and the Himalayas—as well as continuing the museum’s commitment to bringing world-class special exhibitions to Denver and showcasing its own stunning collection. She will begin her new role at the DAM on Sept. 30.

Han comes to the DAM from the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, where she had been the Department Head and Associate Curator of Korean Art since 2010. Previously, she served as Associate Curator and Acting Department Head of Chinese and Korean Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Seven special exhibitions she curated at the Asian Art Museum include Likeness and Legacy in Korean Portraiture (opened August 27), Couture Korea, Mother-of-Pearl Lacquerware from Korea and In Grand Style: Celebration in Korean Art during the Joseon Dynasty. She curated or consulted on exhibitions and projects at other institutions and venues including Mills College Art Museum, San Francisco International Airport Museum and Consulate General of Republic of Korea in San Francisco.

A specialist of East Asian art history, Han has broad experience as an art advisor, researcher, lecturer and art writer/columnist. She holds a BA and MA from Seoul National University, South Korea, an MA (Honors with Distinction) and completed her Ph.D. coursework at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Einor Keinan Cervone took up her position on Sept. 1, joining the DAM from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where she served as the Mozhai Foundation Curatorial Fellow in the Department of Chinese and Korean Art. Prior to that she was an Associate in the Department of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History working with The Berthold Laufer Collection, as well as a Visiting Scholar at Academica Sinica in Taipei, before receiving her doctorate from Harvard University.

Cervone fosters a broad range of research interests with particular focus on Ming and Qing painting, Asian lacquer, Chinese ceramics, and contemporary ink art. She has taken part in various exhibitions including Where Truth Lies: The Art of Qiu Ying and Ink Dreams: Selections from the Fondation INK Collection. Her exhibition on Asian lacquer is slated to open next year at LACMA.

Cervone regularly gives talks and participates in scholarly conferences nationally and internationally. Her recent publications include “Art | Adrift: Curating Selves aboard Ming Dynasty Painting-and-Calligraphy Boats” and “The Chameleon Master Adds Snake Legs: The Art and Reception of Qiu Ying.” Her scholarship has been recognized with awards and fellowships from Harvard’s Frederick Sheldon Foundation, the Center for Chinese Studies, Taipei (CCS); the Gakushuin University Research Center of Oriental Cultures, Tokyo, and the Chiang Ching-kuo Research Grant (CCK).

Cervone received her BA from Israel’s Tel-Aviv University and her PhD in Pre-modern Chinese Art and Literature from Harvard University.