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The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art (NMAA) is committed to preserving, exhibiting, researching, and interpreting art in ways that deepen the public and scholarly understandings of Asia and the world. NMAA opened in 1923 as America’s first national art museum and the first Asian art museum in the United States. We now steward one of the world’s most important collections of Asian art, with works dating from antiquity to the present, from China, Japan, Korea, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the pre-Islamic Near East, and the Islamic world (inclusive of Central Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa). The museum also stewards an important collection of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American art.

Today, NMAA is emerging as a leading national and global resource for understanding the arts, cultures, and societies of Asia, especially at their intersection with America. Guided by the belief that the future of art museums lies in collaboration, increased access, and transparency, NMAA is fostering new ways to engage with its audiences while maintaining its commitment to excellence.

NMAA celebrated its centennial in 2023, and we are determined to make our second century as accomplished as our first. We are building on our core strengths—the quality and depth of our collections, scholarship, and conservation—while embracing experimentation and new approaches to our work. We are transforming digitally, physically, and programmatically to draw in new audiences to celebrate, learn, and connect with Asian and American art and cultures, past and present.

Located on the National Mall in Washington, DC, the museum is free and open 364 days a year. The Smithsonian, which is the world’s largest museum complex, welcomes twenty to thirty million visitors yearly. For more information about the National Museum of Asian Art, please visit asia.si.edu.

The Opportunity
The Welch Head of Conservation and Scientific Research plays a pivotal role in the museum’s excellence, providing leadership, development, management, and strategic direction to a distinguished team of scientists, conservators, research scholars, fellows, and interns. This team is renowned for its size, depth, and expertise in the study, preservation, and conservation of works of art and cultural heritage.

The endowed position ensures the Department of Conservation and Scientific Research maintains its longstanding excellence and scholarship in the field, while continuing to advance conservation and scientific research globally. As the foremost center in the United States for the care and scientific study of the arts of Asia, the department plays a critical role in preserving cultural heritage, providing new insights into historic objects, and training the next generation of conservators.

The Welch Head of Conservation and Scientific Research will serve as a catalyst for collaboration, enhancing the museum’s position as the international leader in conservation and scientific research in Asian art. Additionally, the role contributes significantly to museum-wide priorities, including expanding the museum’s impact, fostering transparency in museum practice, enhancing research activities, building international partnerships, and creating a diverse, resilient, and collaborative community.

Conservation at the National Museum of Asian Art began in 1932 with the hiring of Japanese painting mounters and the establishment of the East Asian Painting Conservation Studio. In 1951, the museum established its technical laboratory, the first Smithsonian facility dedicated to the use of scientific methods for the study of works of art. Over time, the laboratory expanded to include objects, paper, and exhibit conservation. These two facilities later merged to form the Department of Conservation and Scientific Research.

Today, our award-winning scientists and conservators strive to improve preservation methods, educate others in conservation practices, and conduct cutting-edge research into materials. They collaborate closely with the museum’s collection, exhibition, and curatorial departments. Together, they safeguard the collections, ensure the proper display and storage of objects, and contribute to the ever-growing understanding and appreciation of Asian and American art.

For more information, visit the museum’s posting site.