In the ancient Greek play Lysistrata women stage a sex strike to force the men to bring their sons and husbands home and end the nearly 30-year Peloponnesian War.
Lang Guoren, who would ride his son to classes each morning on the wobbly handlebars of an ancient bicycle, distinguished himself as the loudest of stage parents.
Mr. Carpenter, who was appointed curator of Japanese art in July 2011, devotes about a fifth of the permanent exhibition space to ancient artifacts and Buddhist art and uses the remaining galleries to stage six-month-long installations, each illustrating an aspect of Japanese art.
Carrie Mae Weems does nothing to hide the operatic stage machinery behind "When and Where I Enter-Ancient Rome, " her 2008 black-and-white photograph of a woman in a long gown silhouetted at a picture window.