A Conversation with Min Jung Kim
Written by Courtney Scott
Min Jung Kim, the Barbara B. Taylor Director of the St. Louis Art Museum, welcomed me into her office, which has a corner of floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Forest Park. A lone work of art hangs above her computer, Pink Roses by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. When I commented on it, Min ushered me to take a specific seat at the table in the office to show me how the work came to life with the background of her view, pointing out a specific tree that is now dark and barren.
“There was this moment in the fall where all of the leaves were a bright yellow, and the tree trunk was red,” she passionately described. She tells me that with the juxtaposition of the red in the artwork and the colors of the tree in her line of sight, she was inspired as she went about day-to-day decision-making. “Art is really a reflection of the world around us, whether it's about a particular issue or it's something that relates to nature - I think the ways in which it connects us to the world in which we live is what is so extraordinary about art.”
Min is almost midway through her second year as a St. Louis resident in her role at SLAM. “I am slowly but surely discovering the vast richness that exists here in St. Louis,” said Min. “This first year was really a year to get to know the people.”
“Museums are more than just a place of objects - I think they are also equally important a place of people and relationships and a reflection of the community at large. A big part of my education of understanding this extraordinary museum has been meeting with and talking to all of the people that are a large part of this museum community, and that includes of course, my amazing peers and colleagues inside the museum, the staff, the board, our members and many individuals in the community.”
Min commented that the St. Louis Art Museum does not exist in a vacuum. She listed some of the many cultural institutions in the regions she is proud to call colleagues and friends in the community, from the Pulitzer Foundation to CAMSTL, to Laumeier Sculpture Park, The Kemper, The Shakespeare Festival, The Black Rep, The Rep, The Muny - the list goes on and on. “We are a city and a county and a region that is just brimming with an exuberant vibrant multilayered, richly contextualized art and culture that is so unique in each of their strengths that it allows for these ripe opportunities for us to partner and collaborate. That is something that, as I am getting to know and discover, I find incredibly exciting. Plus the food!”
We took turns listing off restaurants we have tried. It is clear that the diverse culinary scene is also something Min also has a passion for getting to know. Min and I both agreed that St. Louis has an abundant food scene. She noted that she tries to dine somewhere new each time she goes out, and each one becomes her new favorite.
With both of us unable to pin down any one restaurant as our top choice, I asked Min if she had a piece of art in the museum she liked the best. “That is always a really tough question because I almost equate it to picking your favorite child,” she said, which was the answer I was expecting. “One of the benefits of working at the museum is that I get to see these extraordinary works as if they were in my own living room, so it is indeed hard to pick my favorite. I think not only about the works hanging on the walls in our galleries currently but how absence makes the heart grow fonder. When some of our works temporarily go away, I miss them even more. There is one such work right now that is really one of our many great masterpieces - one of the Monet Water Lilies triptych panel, which is currently on loan for a spectacular exhibition at the Foundation Louis Vuitton in Paris.”
The piece is part of an exhibition of work on display from both Claude Monet and Joan Mitchell. While on view in Paris, it is reunited with the other two panels of art comprising the triptych. It is also reportedly one of Claude Monet's last and favorite triptychs. Min, who had the pleasure of attending the opening of the exhibit, described how onlookers gasped and were visibly stunned when making their way through the show and turning the corner to see the panels presented together.
Min expressed that in every label and every mention of the Water Lilies triptych, there is always the mention of the St. Louis Art Museum and the narrative that the three pieces of the panel are all owned by three midwest institutions (the Nelson Atkins Museum and the Cleveland Museum of Art each also owning one of the panels.) The St. Louis Art Museum will do an adaptive version of this exhibition which will open in March, but the triptych will not be reunited.
We talked through the exhibits set to take place at SLAM in 2023 and how each one will offer a unique perspective on the themes. For example, Age of Armor: Treasures from the Higgins Armory Collection at the Worcester Art Museum will include modern-day armor such as military uniforms. Min plans to engage the community by collaborating with various local organizations on projects when fitting. One upcoming exhibit that will also be exciting to see come to life is The Culture: Hip-Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century.
I asked Min what she saw as most challenging about her role. “I don’t know if it's a challenge in my role per se, but I think one of the challenges of our times is that we are in this moment of evolution if you will. I don’t think that is specific to us as the St. Louis Art Museum or even specific to museums or art and culture. I think we are seeing this really everywhere, but I also think those challenges can be opportunities as well.”
“We want to recognize that we do in fact have this strong foundation, and we want to maintain that but at the same time remain open to the times, remain open making sure that we are listening to our key constituents and our community and our visitors. We need to remember why we exist and who we serve, and if we can remain true to that, I think that will help us weather some of these changes and help us to continue to grow with time.”
Min also said that whether art was made this week or hundreds of years ago, it has the ability to be a commentary on the human condition and uplift the human spirit. With its free admission, the St. Louis Art Museum is accessible to anyone to enjoy. On the particular day I visited, numerous school groups conducted lessons and tours throughout the wings, taking advantage of this incredible resource the museum offers our city. I was also able to get lost in the museum and find myself alone in galleries, providing that feeling that I had the art all to myself for that moment. It is, in a way, a sacred place of reflection that one can go to time and again, having a different experience each visit.
2023 Exhibitions
Fabricating Empire: Folk Textiles and the Making of Early 20th-Century Austrian Design
January 6–May 28, 2023
Age of Armor: Treasures from the Higgins Armory Collection at the Worcester Art Museum
February 18–May 14, 2023
Monet/Mitchell: Painting the French Landscape
March 25–June 25, 2023
Action/Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art, 1940s–1970s
June 24–September 3, 2023
The Culture: Hip-Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century
August 26, 2023–January 1, 2024
For more information, visit www.slam.org