New Venue Expected to Raise Asian Art Museum’s Profile

‘Splendors of Imperial China” has arrived at the Asian Art Museum at a propitious moment, when the institution is planning a move that will raise its profile and give it a more distinct identity.

The Asian Art Museum, founded in 1969 by the city and county of San Francisco and housed since then in the same building as the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in Golden Gate Park, is often thought to be a branch of the De Young. In fact, it is a separate institution, which derives less than half its $6-million annual operating budget from the city and depends in large part on private funds.

Plans are underway to relocate in San Francisco’s old Main Library, a 1917 building in the civic center that was vacated earlier this year when a new library opened. The museum is in the process of selecting an architect, who will be announced in November. Construction is expected to begin in 1998. The target date for completion is December 2000.

Fund-raisers are well on their way to reaching their $92-million goal, most of which is needed for earthquake retrofitting and renovation of the historic structure. Nearly $80 million has been committed, about $52 million of which was provided by bond issues passed in 1989 and 1994. The remaining $12 million must come from private sources, said Emily Sano, the museum’s director.

The move will provide for more exhibition space and galleries that can be devoted to temporary exhibitions. Perhaps even more important, the museum will gain a prominent, symbolic location, across from City Hall.

“The site will allow us to be the place, the center for all Asian cultural activities,” Sano said.

As for the exhibition, “It works into our mission tremendously,” she said.