For the first time since the Met opened its Beaux-Arts building on Fifth Avenue, in 1902, works of art will grace the niches of its exterior. On Sept. 9, the museum inaugurates its Façade Commission with a quartet of seven-foot-high bronzes by the Kenyan-born artist Wangechi Mutu (pictured), who divides her time between Nairobi and New York City. The female figures are reminiscent of caryatids, seen in both ancient Greek temples and in the centuries-old carvings of the Luba people from Central Africa.
