Yasufumi Nakamori

An experienced museum leader, curator, and noted scholar of modern and contemporary Asian art, Yasufumi Nakamori became Museum Director and Vice President of Arts and Culture for Asia Society in 2023. He oversees the museum’s exhibition program and collection, as well as arts and culture programming across the global organization.

After starting his career as a corporate lawyer, practicing in New York and Tokyo, Nakamori began his path into the art world by earning an MA in Art History at Hunter College.

Nakamori came to Asia Society from Tate in London, where he served as the Senior Curator, International Art (Photography), leading the development of Tate’s collection of photography and developing and curating exhibitions. Nakamori previously headed the department of photography and new media at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. He has also served as curator of photography at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and taught graduate seminars on the history of modern Japanese art and architecture at Rice University.

Nakamori has written four books, including Katsura: Picturing Modernism in Japanese Architecture, Photographs by Yasuhiro Ishimoto (2010). He serves on the board of several institutions in Japan and the U.K., including the Yayoi Kusama Foundation. He is a 2016 fellow of the Getty Leadership Institute. 

In addition to his degree from Hunter, Nakamori received a BA from Waseda University in Tokyo, a JD from the University of Wisconsin Law School, and a PhD in the History of Art and Visual Studies from Cornell University.