Lee was born in
Jakarta, where her father was a
Korean diplomat tasked with promoting
Korean art and
culture, and has lived in
Stockholm,
London,
Los Angeles,
Seoul, and
Tokyo. She received her
B.A.,
M.A., and
Ph.D., all from
Columbia University. Her doctoral thesis examined the influence of 15th-16th century
Korean ceramics on the ceramic industries in
Kyushu, Japan. Her research has focused on cross-cultural exchanges in
East Asian Art. At the Met, she has curated the exhibitions such as
Art of the Korean Renaissance, 1400–1600 (2009);
Poetry in Clay: Korean Buncheong Ceramics from the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art (2011);
Silla: Korea’s Golden Kingdom (2014); and
Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art (2018). Lee served as the Met's Forum of Curators, Conservators, and Scientists in 2016–17 and a trustee of the
Association of Art Museum Curators. While at Harvard, she co-curated exhibitions such as
Future Minded: New Works in the Collection (2024) and
Earthly Delights: 6,000 Years of Asian Ceramics (2022) while leading the institution's collections-building and its training program for aspiring museum professionals. == References ==