MicroCosmos / Details from the Carpenter Collection of Arctic Art

Menil Collection, Houston, TX

NOW CLOSED

Together with his wife, Adelaide de Menil, the late Edmund Carpenter assembled one of the world’s finest and most extensive collections of Old Bering Sea Paleo-Eskimo material culture. MicroCosmos is the first exhibition of this extraordinary assembly, primarily showcasing artifacts from the Old Bering Sea cultures of coastal Alaska and Siberia, ca. 250 BCE–1000 CE. The exhibition celebrates the spirit of Carpenter’s curiosity and his pursuit of the underlying cultural significances in Paleo-Eskimo expressive culture by exploring the animistic universe expressed in these objects. Read more.

Preview the exhibition below | The Top Five Exhibitions Opening This Week

(c. 1000-1400 CE), Paleo-Eskimo or early Thule

Seated Slave Figure (c. 1000-1400 CE), Paleo-Eskimo or early Thule

(c. 250 BCE-100 CE), Okvik/Old Bering Sea I.

Human Doll Figure (c. 250 BCE-100 CE), Okvik/Old Bering Sea I. Photo: David Heald

(c. 500-800 CE), Old Bering Sea III or Punuk period

Head from Human Doll Figure, with Tattoo Patterning (c. 500-800 CE), Old Bering Sea III or Punuk period

(c. 1000-1800 CE), Western Thule.

Walrus Effigy (c. 1000-1800 CE), Western Thule. Photo: David Heald

(c. 100-300 CE), Old Bering Sea II.

Ulu knife (c. 100-300 CE), Old Bering Sea II. Photo: David Heald

(c. 500-800 CE), Old Bering Sea II or early Punuk period.

Human Figure with Tattoo Patterning (c. 500-800 CE), Old Bering Sea II or early Punuk period. Photo: David Heald

(c. 100-300 CE), Old Bering Sea II

Harpoon Counterweight (Winged Object) (c. 100-300 CE), Old Bering Sea II

(c. 300-500 CE), Old Bering Sea III.

Human Torso (c. 300-500 CE), Old Bering Sea III. Photo: David Heald

(c. 100-300 CE), Old Bering Sea II

Harpoon Point (c. 100-300 CE), Old Bering Sea II

(c. 250 BCE-100 CE), Okvik/Old Bering Sea I.

Head from Human Doll Figure (c. 250 BCE-100 CE), Okvik/Old Bering Sea I. Photo: David Heald

(c. 100-300 CE), Old Bering Sea II.

Pregnant Walrus/Woman Figure (c. 100-300 CE), Old Bering Sea II. Photo: David Heald