Namhi Kim Wagner

Namhi Kim Wagner (1923 – March 2023) was a university instructor and Harvard University's first Korean Language Program Director. Her ceramics are influenced by Buncheong style and she is said to be one of the first American ceramicists to revive the Buncheong style of ceramics. Her work is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston's collection

Early and personal life In 1923, she was born in Korea. In 1961, she immigrated to the United States and married Edward Willett Wagner.

Harvard She began working at the Harvard-Yenching Library in 1961. In 1964, she started teaching in Harvard's Korean Language Program. From 1997 to 2004, she was an artist-in-residence at the Harvard Ceramics Program. On June 16, 2010, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston accessioned one of her original ceramic pieces for their collection. In 2020, the Harvard Art Museums accessioned an original ceramic bowl Wagner had made into its collections. and Chosŏn dynasty.

Death and legacy In 2022, Harvard's Korean Program honored Wagner by naming the Namhi Kim Wagner Korean Language Prize after her. She died March 2023 at age 99. In the summer of 2023, the Lexington Arts & Craft Society hosted a Memorial Retrospective Ceramics Exhibition of Wagner's ceramics.

Resources

External Resources

Photographs of Wagner's 2016 Exhibit at Gallery 224