American Museum Acquires Outdoor Sculpture by Leading Contemporary African Artist

American Museum Acquires Outdoor Sculpture by Leading Contemporary African Artist

Kenyan artist Wangechi Mutu is the latest contemporary African artist that will be having their work acquired by a major American museum as her 2019 work of sculpture, The Seated II, is one of two monumental outdoor sculptures recently acquired by the Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) in Ohio.

The Seated II (2019) is a six and a half feet by three feet bronze sculpture of a seated woman which is inspired by the caryatid -- a sculpted female figure found in African and European art that doubles as a load-bearing architectural element. The female figure in The Seated II has protective coils covering her body like armor and a shiny round disc on her forehead, reminiscent of traditional African adornment worn by women of status, which mirrors the light and surroundings. 

In a description of the sculpture, it was established that the figure represents all women, but particularly Black women, who in our societies are the recipients of such immense responsibility and trauma. Staging a feminist intervention, the artist presents a regal, unencumbered figure in full possession of her own power. This enigmatic and otherworldly presence is a force to be respected and reckoned with.

The Seated II is part of a series of four works of seated female figures entitled The New Ones, will free Us, originally commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The series title reflects the artist’s belief in the liberating power of new ideas, new people, new forms of knowledge, and new ways of living. 

“The new ones, the new voices include the young people, the immigrants who are the newest arrival to the country…all of the people who are fighting for rights of the most marginalized communities – essentially anyone who is entering or attempting to enter the conversation and demanding that they be treated equally,” Mutu stated in an interview about the series. “The New Ones include us if we are ready to be part of the conversation.”

Mutu was born in Kenya in 1972 but came to the United States in her early 20s where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Cooper Union and Master of Fine Arts in sculpture from Yale University. In addition to sculpture, she creates works that focus on large scale collage-paintings, video, and performance. She has exhibited in national and international events such as Art Gallery of Ontario, Brooklyn Museum, Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Studio Museum in Harlem, and Tate Modern in London.

The second outdoor sculpture acquired by Toledo Museum of Art, Moon Mirror (2019), is a crescent-shaped work of colored glass and stainless steel that suggests a luminous half-moon resting on a plane, done by American artist Josiah McElheny. Standing at 16 feet tall and 8.5 feet wide, its curved shape also lends itself to frame performances and other acoustic improvisations by American artist Josiah McElheny.

Both sculptures will join TMA’s collection of more than twenty-five works of art sited on the museum’s Georgia and David K. Welles Sculpture Garden.

“These outstanding and profound additions to the collection, The Seated II and Moon Mirror, uniquely connect the Toledo Museum of Art to its history and culture, and their acquisition underscores TMA’s commitment to outdoor sculpture as a forum for self-reflection, meaningful dialogue, and social connection,” said Diane Wright, TMA’s senior curator of glass and contemporary craft.

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