Philanthropist & Scholar

Anthropologist Edmund Carpenter, curator of Menil Arctic Realities exhibit, isdead at 89

Edmund Carpenter explored the ties between cultural anthropology, visual media,and tribal art for more than 50 years. He wrote many books, including "TwoEssays: Chief & Greed"
Edmund Carpenter and his wife, Adelaide de Menil donated photographs thatdocumented the civil rights struggle to the Menil Collection for an exhibitionon display through Sept. 25.
© 2010 Hester + Hardaway
A mask from the exhibition, "Upside Down: Arctic Realities," curated by EdmundCarpenter, at the Menil Collection through July 17.
Photo by Fred Gageneau

Anthropologist Edmund Snow Carpenter, who gained worldwide attention as a specialist in tribal art and visual media, died at his home on Long Island, N.Y., Saturday, after a long illness. Carpenter, the husband of Adelaide de Menil, was 89.

Known by most friends as Ted, Carpenter organized the current exhibition, Upside Down: Arctic Realities, at the Menil Collection. He drew upon his work tracing ancient Bering Sea cultures and the living rituals of their descendants to create the show, which includes objects ranging from tiny ivory amulets to shaman dance masks. Carpenter commissioned sound and light artist Doug Wheeler to create an environment evoking an Arctic landscape for the show, which remains on view through July 17.

In a review, CultureMap contributor Joseph Campana found the exhibit captivating. He writes:

The utterly unique space of the exhibit is equally the product of the Arctic Circle and the mind of the visionary Edmund Carpenter. You can experience Carpenter’s vision more directly in the extraordinary exhibition catalogue to which he contributed several essays, and if you hit your local library for a copy of his out-of-print masterpiece Eskimo Realities."

"Carpenter was probably the first professional anthropologist in the world to host a national television program and one of the first scholars to focus attention on the revolutionary impact of film and photography on traditional tribal peoples."

Carpenter and his wife also contributed images for another exhibition, The Whole World Was Watching: Civil Rights-Era Photographs from Edmund Carpenter and Adelaide de Menil, currently on display at the Menil through Sept. 25. The striking exhibition contains 36 photographs documenting the civil rights struggles in 1960s America, featuring Martin Luther King at the March on Washington and demonstrations in Alabama. The photos were chosen from 230 images donated by Carpenter and de Menil.

Twice divorced, Carpenter met de Menil in the 1960s and they remained together until his death. Among other projects, Carpenter and de Menil did extensive documentation on the impact of modern media on Stone Age Papua peoples in New Guinea.

Carpenter and de Menil were to be honored later this month in East Hampton, N.Y. for their donation of a half-dozen 18th and 19th century buildings to create the town hall complex.

According to a 2001/02 article in Visual Anthropology Review, Carpenter explored the ties between cultural anthropology, visual media, and tribal art for more than 50 years. The extensive article notes:

Carpenter was probably the first professional anthropologist in the world to host a national television program and one of the first scholars to focus attention on the revolutionary impact of film and photography on traditional tribal peoples. In 1948, he teamed up with Marshall McLuhan for a lifetime collaboration, breaking new ground in cross-cultural understanding of modern media. He also headed the first anthropology department in which filmmaking formed a central component of the curriculum."

Funeral arrangements are pending.

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A Roman Holiday (Season)

All roads lead to Houston museum's blockbuster exhibit of Imperial Rome

Photo courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

The Museum of Fine Arts Houston presents "Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times" ("Statue of Trajan" Minturno, Italy, 2nd century, marble, National Archaeological Museum, Naples)

Houston's holiday season will have a distinctly Roman feeling this year, as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is bringing the glory of the Gladiator era to Texas. On November 2, 2025 through January 25, 2026 the MFAH presents the monumental new exhibition “Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times.”

Featuring 160 objects of antiquity, including marble sculptures, frescoes, mosaics, delicate glass vessels, and exquisite bronze artifacts, the exhibition will transport visitors back in time to the Roman Empire during a flowering of art and architecture. The MFAH partnered with the Saint Louis Art Museum to organize the exhibition, which will showcase many pieces that have never been on view in the U.S.

While Emperor Trajan might not be the most famous — or in some cases, most infamous — of the Roman emperors, he ruled between 98 and 117 C.E. during the empire’s height and was the second of the so-called “Five Good Emperors” of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty. He was also the first emperor born outside of present-day Italy, in what is now Andalusia, Spain. During his reign, he granted citizenship and rights to some peoples from conquered lands. The exhibition will explore how this time period expanded what it meant to be a Roman and how art reflected Rome’s power and promoted the empire’s values and ideals.

$\u200bThe Museum of Fine Arts Houston presents "Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times"$

Photo courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

The Museum of Fine Arts Houston presents "Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times" ("Statue of Trajan" Minturno, Italy, 2nd century, marble, National Archaeological Museum, Naples)

From statues of prominent men and women of the era, including Trajan, to vivid frescoes and furnishing from the villas of Pompeii, the objects in the exhibition will tell fascinating cultural and political stories of life in imperial Rome. To add context to the artworks and objects of antiquity, the MFAH will recreate a section of Trajan’s Column, which was a towering pillar with a spiraling narrative frieze, one of the few monumental sculptures to have survived the fall of Rome.

“Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times” brings such a wealth of objects to Houston thanks to unprecedented loans from the renowned antiquities collections of Italian museums including Museo Nazionale Romano, the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, the Parco Archeologico di Ostia, and the Musei Vaticani. It would would likely take months of travel across Italy to see this much art.

“This is truly a rare opportunity for U.S. audiences to experience spectacular objects from this glorious era of the Roman Empire,” said Gary Tinterow, director and Margaret Alkek Williams chair of the MFAH, in a statement. “We are enormously grateful to our colleagues in Rome, Naples, and Vatican City for lending these treasures to us and broadening the appreciation of Italy’s cultural heritage.”

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