Wangechi Mutu's Sculptures Transform Iconic Steps at The Met

The artist’s new exhibition, “The NewOnes, will free Us,” is the museum’s first-ever exterior installation—and the first thing people will see when they visit.

By N. Jamiyla Chisholm Sep 6, 2019

For four months, beginning on Monday (September 9 – January 20), the exterior facade flanking the front doors of The Metropolitan Museum of Art will feature artist Wangechi Mutu’s sculptures. It will be the first such installation near the museum's historic Fifth Avenue steps, The Met announced. The exhibition, tilted “The NewOnes, will free Us,” is the museum’s inaugural program for an annual artist commission series that will fill the unused space with art. The sculptures represent “words that we haven’t heard, people we haven’t noticed,” Mutu told The New York Times. 

The 47-year-old Kenyan-American artist has been applauded for her collage-paintings, art films, live performances and sculptures, which are made of bronze and organic materials. “Like her collage-paintings, Mutu’s sculptures reflect critically on social and ecological injustices and inequalities. Female transformation and empowerment are at the core of all her ideas and evidence in the completed work,” reads The Met’s exhibition overview.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

#TBT ?️✨ Notice the niches in the spaces between the columns? In his original design for the Museum, architect Richard Morris Hunt intended to fill those spaces with sculptures, but his vision for the building was so ambitious and costly that several of his ideas were never carried out, including artwork in the niches. ⁣ ⁣⁣ Now, more than a century later, these niches on the historic facade of The Met Fifth Avenue will feature sculptures, as part of a new annual artist commission series. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ The series kicks off next week with the work of Kenyan-American artist #WangechiMutu, whose sculptures will be on view from Monday, September 9 through January 12, 2020. ? Learn more in our IG Story and at the link in bio. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ ? Charles Sheeler (American, 1883–1965). The Metropolitan Museum of Art facade detail, 1942. Platinum print. #TheMet #MetWangechiMutu

A post shared by The Met (@metmuseum) on Sep 5, 2019 at 4:35pm PDT

 

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