Lesley Ma
Lesley Ma | |
|---|---|
| 馬唯中 | |
| Born | Ma Wei-chung 1980 (age 44–45) United States |
| Education | Harvard University (BA) New York University (MA) University of California, San Diego (PhD) |
| Occupations |
|
| Spouse |
Tsai Pei-jan (m. 2012) |
| Parent(s) | Ma Ying-jeou (father) Christine Chow Ma (mother) |
Lesley Ma Wei-chung (Chinese: 馬唯中; pinyin: Mǎ Wéizhōng; born 1980) is a Taiwanese and American art historian. She is the Ming Chu Hsu and Daniel Xu Curator of Asian Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[1]
Early life and education
[edit]Ma was born in the United States in 1980 to a prominent Taiwanese political family.[2] She is the eldest daughter of former Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou and his wife, Christine Chow Ma.[3] She was raised in Taipei, Taiwan, before returning to the U.S. for college.[1]
After high school, Ma studied history as an undergraduate at Harvard University.[4] In 2003, Ma graduated cum laude from Harvard College with a Bachelor of Arts in history and science. She then obtained a Master of Arts (M.A.) in museology from New York University in 2005 and earned her Ph.D. in art history, theory, and criticism from the University of California, San Diego in 2016.[1] Her doctoral dissertation, completed under professor Kuiyi Shen, was titled, "The Mountains and Rivers Remain: Abstract Painting in Postwar Taiwan, 1957–1968".[5]
Career
[edit]After receiving her master's degree from New York University, Ma became a project director at the art studio of Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang in New York City. From 2009 to 2012, she was a teaching assistant in the visual arts department at the University of California, San Diego, during which period she also was a curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles from 2011 to 2012. After serving as a researcher at the Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong from 2012 to 2013, she became a curator of ink art at M+ art museum in Hong Kong in 2013.[5] Ma was in charge of the museum's ink art collection and exhibits.[2]
On March 10, 2022, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City announced that Ma would become the museum's inaugural Ming Chu Hsu and Daniel Xu Associate Curator of Asian Art in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art, beginning April 2022.[1]
Personal life
[edit]Ma married Allen Tsai Pei-jan (Chinese: 蔡沛然; born 1980),[6] a former classmate at Harvard College, in 2012. Tsai is a Taiwanese-American former fashion model.[7] He graduated from Harvard with a degree in finance and worked as a banker in Germany.[8] Their marriage took place in New York City.[2] The marriage garnered media attention in Taiwan as it was kept secret by her father.[9]
Selected publications
[edit]- Ma, Lesley (2016). "Broken Ground: Chuang Che's Modernist Paintings of the 1960s" (PDF). Yishu. 15 (1): 19–31.
- Ma, Lesley (2021). ""The New Chinese Landscape" in the Cold War era". In Yamamura, Midori; Li, Yu-Chieh (eds.). Visual Representations of the Cold War and Postcolonial Struggles (1st ed.). Routledge. ISBN 9781003105398.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d "Lesley Ma Named Inaugural Ming Chu Hsu and Daniel Xu Associate Curator of Asian Art in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Met". Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2022-03-10. Retrieved 2025-06-17.
- ^ a b c Chow, Vivienne (2013-10-08). "Taiwan's 'first daughter' Lesley Ma joins West Kowloon arts hub". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2025-06-17.
- ^ "M+ Welcomes Lesley Ma as Ink Art Curator". ArtAsiaPacific. 2013-10-15. Retrieved 2025-06-17.
- ^ Ma, Xuan; Fan, Hangyu (2024-12-08). "The Low-Key Ma Wei-chung Talks About Her Views on Curatorial Works". World Journal (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved 2025-06-17.
- ^ a b Ma, Lesley (2016). The Mountains and Rivers Remain: Abstract Painting in Postwar Taiwan, 1957–1968 (PhD thesis). University of California, San Diego.
- ^ Chen, Ching-min; Pan, Jason (2013-03-13). "Ma's son-in-law should do his duty: DPP". The Taipei Times. Retrieved 2025-06-17.
- ^ Hsu, Jenny (2013-03-14). "Taiwan Riled Up Over First Family Wedding". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2025-06-17.
- ^ "揭秘马英九大女儿：台湾男人最想娶回家的千金，丈夫是国际男模_马唯_一家_媒体" (in Chinese). Sohu. 2024-12-26. Retrieved 2025-06-17.
- ^ "New Hong Kong museum hires president's daughter". The Taipei Times. 2013-10-12. Retrieved 2025-06-17.
External links
[edit]- Profile at Thames & Hudson
- Profile at Asian American / Asian Research Institute