Wangechi Mutu: The NewOnes, will free Us

Comprising four bronze sculptures, The NewOnes, will free Us is the first artwork to occupy the four niches on the Met’s beaux-arts facade since it was completed more than 100 years ago. Wangechi Mutu, a Kenyan-born and Brooklyn-based artist, designed the figures—The Seated I, II, III and IV—after caryatids, female carvings that usually provide weight-bearing support, though here they are freestanding. Regal and assured, Mutu’s creations are covered with bronze coils and embellished mirrored discs, drawing on traditions of African adornment. Each is different, though pairs (I & III, II & IV) are mirror images of each other.