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Yinka Shonibare

Living · British-Nigerian · born 1962 · London

Yinka Shonibare

Yinka Shonibare in front of Hibiscus Rising in Aire Park, Leeds, on 24 November 2023, the day before the public unveiling, photographed for the commissioning body LEEDS 2023. The file names him as the sitter and the commissioning body published it; the identification is secure.

Photograph by David Lindsay for LEEDS 2023 (Leeds Culture Trust), CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr and Wikimedia Commons.
Yinka Shonibare
Full nameYinka Shonibare CBE RA
Works asSculptor, Installation artist, Painter, Photographer
Works inLondon, United Kingdom
Represented byGoodman Gallery, Johannesburg, Cape Town, London and New York; Norr Cohan (James Cohan Gallery until July 2026; its artist roster lists him), New York; Cristea Roberts Gallery (original prints only), London; Mennour, Paris
Nationality British-Nigerian
MovementPostcolonial conceptual practice
Sources57 cited
Last verified16 September 2026

About this page Last verified 16 September 2026 · 57 sources cited

On this page 13 sections
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Every Shonibare carries the same material argument, and it is not the one the label says. The Dutch wax printed cotton on the sails at Greenwich, on the headless mannequins and on the painted skins of the outdoor sculptures is not an African cloth: it is an Indonesian batik technique industrialised in the Netherlands, sold into West Africa and bought by the artist at retail in Brixton market. He has said the work is actually not about the representation of politics but the politics of representation, and the cloth is that sentence made physical. A buyer who reads the fabric as decoration has missed what the object is for; a buyer who reads its trade route has the whole practice in hand.

Yinka Shonibare was born in London in 1962, raised in Lagos from the age of three and has worked in London since he came back at seventeen. Three weeks into his foundation year at Wimbledon, as he told RA Magazine in 2016, he fell ill with transverse myelitis, spent a fortnight in a coma and woke paralysed from the neck down; he recovered movement on one side and went on to Byam Shaw and Goldsmiths. The illness is the fact the standard account hurries past, and it explains the shape of the practice: a studio built on delegation, with a team of three in 2016 and contracted sculptors, costumiers, photographers and printmakers, and a body of work that runs from painting on fabric to fibreglass tableaux, film, photography, prints, libraries of cloth-bound books and public sculpture in hand painted resin and bronze.

The institutions arrived early and kept coming. Sensation at the Royal Academy in 1997, documenta 11 in 2002, the Turner Prize shortlist in 2004, a mid-career survey that went from Sydney to Brooklyn to the Smithsonian in 2008 to 2010, the Fourth Plinth in 2010, election to the Royal Academy in 2013, a Salzburg retrospective in 2021, the Serpentine in 2024, the Nigerian Pavilion at Venice in 2024, a first major African solo show at Fondation H in Antananarivo in 2025 and, on now, the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis. Tate has bought twice, in 2001 and 2019; the studio's own CV lists 50 collections, public and private.

What this page adds is the part the museum labels leave out: how a work leaves the Hackney studio, who confirms it, what the four auction houses have actually paid once the charity lots are set aside, what happened when his London gallery of twenty-nine years closed in February 2026 and where the three works anyone can walk up to for nothing stand.

Signals and the reading

Dated, sourced signals for Yinka Shonibare
SignalDateWhat is recordedSource
Institutional2001Tate purchased The Swing (after Fragonard), 2001 (T07952), and the lithograph Grain Weevil, 2000 (P78516)13
Institutional2019Tate purchased The British Library, 2014 (T15250), with Art Fund support and funds from the Tate International Council, the Africa Acquisitions Committee, Wendy Fisher and the Ekard Collection; displayed 25 March 2019 to 24 April 202212
Institutional2012National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, acquired Nelson's Ship in a Bottle after an Art Fund appeal (total cost GBP 650,000); permanently sited outside the Sammy Ofer Wing since 201238
Institutional1998Art Institute of Chicago: Feather Pink, 1997, gift of The Peter Norton Family Foundation (1998.352)39
Institutional2004Art Institute of Chicago: Big Boy, 2002, gift of Susan and Lewis Manilow (2004.759)39
Institutional2009Victoria and Albert Museum: Climate Shit Drawing 1, 2008, from the artist's first print edition (E.161-2009)40
Institutional2013Victoria and Albert Museum: Diary of a Victorian Dandy, five C-type prints (E.235-2013 and related), purchased with National Lottery Heritage Fund and Photographs Acquisition Group support for the Staying Power project40
Institutional2006National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington: Black Gold I, 2006, described by the museum as its own in 200917
Institutional2018British Museum: Cowboy Angels, set of five woodcuts with Dutch wax fabric collage (2017), purchased from Alan Cristea in 2018 with the Rootstein Hopkins Foundation, registration 2018,7037.2.1-5, the first works by the artist in the museum48
Institutional2003Arts Council Collection: Line Painting, 2003, commissioned by the Arts Council30
Institutional2013Royal Academy of Arts: Cheeky Little Astronomer, 201330
Institutional2010Foundling Museum, London: Trumpet Boy, 2010; Bradford Museums and Galleries: Untitled (Dollhouse), 2002; Government Art Collection: a 2009 work titled Nelson's Ship in a Bottle30
Institutional2018Fondation H, Antananarivo: The African Library, 2018, in the foundation's permanent collection19
Institutional2026The studio's own CV lists 50 collections, public and private, among them MoMA, Moderna Museet, MCA Chicago, LACMA, SFMOMA, Walker Art Center, the National Gallery of Canada, the National Gallery of Victoria, Zeitz MOCAA and the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome; the entries above are the ones verified against an institutional record10
Institutional24 May 2010Nelson's Ship in a Bottle on the Fourth Plinth, Trafalgar Square, commissioned by the Greater London Authority in 2009, on the plinth 24 May 2010 to January 2012; the seventh Fourth Plinth artist8
Institutional2014Wind Sculpture, Howick Place, London SW1, commissioned by Doughty Hanson and Terrace Hill through HS Projects: his first permanent public commission4
Institutional2016Wind Sculpture VII listed by the studio among its public works at the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian, Washington, since 2016; Wind Sculpture (SG) I permanently installed at Davidson College, North Carolina, after the 2018 Public Art Fund showing in Central Park10
InstitutionalJun 2022Wind Sculpture in Bronze I, 2022, bronze, lacquer and concrete, 200 x 137 x 147 cm, Royal Djurgarden sculpture park, Stockholm53
Institutional25 Nov 2023Hibiscus Rising, Aire Park, Leeds, commissioned by the David Oluwale Memorial Association with LEEDS 2023; Art Fund grant GBP 200,000 and a Henry Moore Foundation fabrication grant; 'the largest permanent sculpture by Yinka Shonibare CBE RA in the UK'2
Institutional23 Sep 2008Mid-career survey organised by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, curated by Rachel Kent, touring to the Brooklyn Museum (26 June to 20 September 2009) and the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian (10 November 2009 to 7 March 2010), 21 works at the last venue17
Institutional22 May 2021Yinka Shonibare CBE: End of Empire, Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Moenchsberg, 22 May to 3 October 2021, about sixty works from three decades, curated by Thorsten Sadowsky and Marijana Schneider50
Institutional12 Apr 2024Suspended States, Serpentine South, London, 12 April to 1 September 2024, his first London solo exhibition in over twenty years14
Institutional11 Feb 2026Yinka Shonibare: Sanctuary, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, 11 February 2026 to 3 January 2027, the US debut of Sanctuary City (2024)31
Institutional1997Sensation: Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection, Royal Academy of Arts, 1997, touring to Berlin and Brooklyn; the show that made his name29
Institutional16 Jun 2014MCA Chicago Plaza Project, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, 16 June to 10 November 2014: Wind Sculptures IV and V among the three shown on the plaza; the studio's public-works list places V at the New Orleans Museum of Art's Besthoff Sculpture Garden56
Biennales and surveys199610th Biennale of Sydney, Jurassic Technology10
Biennales and surveys19972nd Johannesburg Biennale, Trade Routes: History and Geography (Okwui Enwezor)10
Biennales and surveys200149th Venice Biennale, Authentic/Ex-centric: Africa in and out of Africa, Fondazione Levi; honourable mention17
Biennales and surveys8 Jun 2002documenta 11, Kassel, 8 June to 15 September 2002: Gallantry and Criminal Conversation, commissioned by Okwui Enwezor11
Biennales and surveys200752nd Venice Biennale, African Pavilion, Check-List Luanda Pop10
Biennales and surveys7 Feb 2023Sharjah Biennial 15, Thinking Historically in the Present, 7 February to 11 June 2023: the Decolonised Structures series, seven London statues of imperial figures recast in Dutch wax pattern19
Biennales and surveys20 Apr 202460th Venice Biennale, Nigerian Pavilion, Nigeria Imaginary, 20 April to 24 November 2024: Monument to the Restitution of the Mind and Soul, clay replicas of 153 objects taken from Benin City in 189719
Recognition1992Barclays Young Artist Award, Serpentine Gallery10
Recognition1998Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Visual Artists10
Recognition20 Oct 2004Turner Prize 2004 shortlist, Tate Britain, 20 October to 23 December 200413
Recognition31 Dec 2004MBE, Member of the Order of the British Empire, New Year Honours 2005, gazetted 31 December 2004 'For services to Art', which he used as part of his working name and signature49
Recognition2010Charles Wollaston Award, Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, for Crash Willy27
Recognition2013Elected Royal Academician29
Recognition2016African Arts Award, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian; Visionaries! award, Museum of Arts and Design, New York10
Recognition28 Dec 2018CBE, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, New Year Honours 2019, 'Artist. For services to Art' (London Gazette Supplement 62507)37
Recognition2020Robson Orr TenTen Award10
Recognition22 Mar 2021Whitechapel Gallery Art Icon Award, the eighth recipient, presented 22 March 202145
Recognition2010Honorary doctorate, Royal College of Art; Fellow of Goldsmiths (2003) and of the University of the Arts London (2012)10
Representation1997Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, from his first solo show there in 1997 until February 2026, when Artsy reported that the gallery had ceased operations, quoting its statement that it was closed to the public (5 February 2026)33
Representation2005James Cohan Gallery, New York, from the solo show Mobility (2005); the gallery announced on 15 July 2026 that it had become Norr Cohan under David Norr's sole ownership34
Representation2018Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, Cape Town, London and New York, from the solo show Ruins Decorated (2018)35
Representation2018Cristea Roberts Gallery, London, exclusive worldwide representative for the original prints; the British Museum bought Cowboy Angels from Alan Cristea in 2018 and the studio CV lists a Cristea Roberts print-room show that year; first solo show there 202336
Representation2026Mennour, Paris, listed as a represented artist; first solo show 13 October to 28 November 202632
Market16 Oct 2007Earliest result found: Christie's London, Dressing Down (1997), GBP 36,500 with premium26
Market8 Nov 2011Christie's New York, Peter Norton Collection evening sale, Hound (2000): USD 194,500 with premium against USD 150,000-200,00023
Market16 May 2017Sotheby's London, Crash Willy (2009): GBP 224,750 with premium, 'a new world record at auction for the artist' in Sotheby's words; hammer not published27
Market7 Mar 2018Christie's London, Girl Balancing Knowledge (2015): GBP 236,750 with premium, a charity lot donated by the artist; the highest published figure but not a consigned resale21
Market10 Mar 2022Christie's New York, Plaything (1996-1997): USD 176,400 with premium against USD 100,000-150,00024
Market1 Oct 2024Christie's New York, The Age of Enlightenment - Marquise du Chatelet (2008): USD 157,500 with premium against USD 70,000-100,00025
Market3 Dec 2025Phillips London, Apollo (after Francavilla) (2022): GBP 83,850 with premium against GBP 50,000-70,000; of 19 Phillips lots offered 2013 to 2025, 14 sold (two of them benefit lots) and 5 show no result20
Market22 Mar 2022Sotheby's London online, CCA Lagos benefit: Modern Magic (2021), donated by the artist, unsold at GBP 50,000-70,00028
Literature2008Yinka Shonibare MBE, ed. Rachel Kent, Prestel and MCA Sydney, 2008; revised and updated edition, Prestel, 2014, 240 pages, with an essay by Robert Hobbs and a conversation with Anthony Downey (contents per the Yale Center for British Art catalogue record)41
Literature2004Yinka Shonibare: Double Dutch, ed. Gerald Matt, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen and Kunsthalle Wien, NAi Publishers, 2004; Double Dress, eds. Suzanne Landau and Jean Fisher, Israel Museum, 200243
Literature2013Yinka Shonibare MBE: FABRIC-ATION, eds. Sarah Coulson and Clare Lilley, Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Kunstforeningen GL Strand, 201343
Literature2021Yinka Shonibare CBE: End of Empire, ed. Thorsten Sadowsky, Hirmer, 2021, with Paul Gilroy in conversation with the artist and an essay by Antwaun Sargent42
Literature2024Suspended States, Serpentine, 2024, the catalogue of the Serpentine South exhibition14
Literature1997Okwui Enwezor, 'The Joke Is on You: The Work of Yinka Shonibare', Nka no. 6, 1997, and Flash Art no. 197, 1997: the first sustained critical reading43
Literature2000Jean Fisher, 'Yinka Shonibare: Camden Arts Centre', Artforum, September 2000; Nancy Hynes and John Picton, 'Yinka Shonibare', African Arts, autumn 200143
Literature2005Anthony Downey, 'Yinka Shonibare', BOMB no. 93, fall 2005, the interview auction catalogues still quote26
Literature2014The 2014 Prestel edition's contents per the Yale Center for British Art catalogue record: essays by Rachel Kent and Robert Hobbs and a conversation with Anthony Downey; a revised and expanded version of the 2008 MCA Sydney catalogue57
Practice2008Studio on the Regent's Canal in Hackney, a former carpet warehouse bought in 2008; a team of three in 2016 plus contracted sculptors, costumiers, photographers and printmakers; a second studio at home in Bow29
Practice2008Guest Projects, an artist-run programme in the Hackney studio since 2008, with a proposal box and month-long residencies19
Practice2014Outdoor works fabricated as hand painted fibreglass resin casts on steel armatures; MDM Fabrications is credited in a photograph on the consultants' page for the Howick Place Wind Sculpture and interviewed about its fabrication in Mediorite's film51
Practice16 Nov 2017Certificates: Christie's catalogued Un Ballo in Maschera (I-X) as 'eligible for a certificate of authenticity'; Sotheby's thanked 'Shonibare Studio for their assistance in cataloguing' in 202226
Practice2019Rights administered by DACS: the studio's own credit line reads 'All Rights Reserved, DACS / Artimage', and auction houses pay the Artist's Resale Right to 'the artist's collection agent'8
Practice2019The Yinka Shonibare Foundation, UK registered charity 1183321, established 2019; Guest Artists Space (G.A.S.) Foundation launched in Lagos and Ijebu in November 202244
Practice2023Original prints in editions of 15 to 60, through Cristea Roberts as exclusive worldwide representative for the prints36
Practice2017Photographic works in editions of 3 to 5 plus artist's proofs (Dorian Gray 5 + 2 AP; Fake Death Picture 5); giclee sets in editions of 10 (Un Ballo in Maschera); the tableaux and outdoor sculptures unique or in small numbered series26
Practice4 Mar 2020Diary of a Victorian Dandy carries two edition statements: Phillips sold a 1998 print on 4 March 2020 as number 3 from an edition of 3 plus 1 artist's proof, and the V&A holds a 2012 printing catalogued as AP 1 of 2 from an edition of 5 plus 2 APs (E.235-2013)40

Stage Institutional (holdings in ten or more museums, or a retrospective, or a major prize; recomputed from the signals on every update, never set by hand)

The reading

The record shows an artist whose institutional standing was settled two decades ago and has since only widened: two Tate purchases, a survey on two continents, a European retrospective, a London solo at the Serpentine, three national pavilions or sections at Venice and three sculptures permanently sited in British public space that anyone can photograph. The market record is narrower than the reputation, and honestly so: the consigned auction record is a 2017 figure of 224,750 pounds, the highest prices are benefit lots and public appeals rather than resales and a quarter of the Phillips lots since 2013 show no result. What would change the reading is documentary rather than critical: a published inventory and certificate practice from the studio, a statement on the Stephen Friedman consignments after the gallery's closure in February 2026 and a settled account of the Wind Sculpture numbering. The public works are the strongest evidence on the page, because they are the part of the corpus whose location, ownership and permanence are proved by the owners themselves.

Exhibitions

On now 1

  • On now
    Yinka Shonibare: Sanctuary
    Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University · Waltham, Massachusetts, United States
    11 Feb 2026 to 3 Jan 2027Confirmed 16 Sep 2026

Opening 1

Past exhibitions 18

Images

6 plates
Nelson's Ship in a Bottle (2010), National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
Nelson's Ship in a Bottle (2010), National Maritime Museum, GreenwichNelson's Ship in a Bottle, a model of HMS Victory at about one thirtieth of full size in a glass bottle with 37 sails of Dutch wax printed cotton, on its plinth outside the Sammy Ofer Wing of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, where it has stood permanently since 2012. Photographed February 2015.Photograph by Prioryman, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Work permanently sited in public in the United Kingdom; reproduced under freedom of panorama (s.62 CDPA 1988)
Nelson's Ship in a Bottle (2010), Greenwich, April 2024
Nelson's Ship in a Bottle (2010), Greenwich, April 2024The same work twelve years into its permanent siting at Greenwich, photographed 1 April 2024: the cork, the wax seal and the rope collar at the neck, and the sails still legible from the path below.Photograph by The wub, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Work permanently sited in public in the United Kingdom; reproduced under freedom of panorama (s.62 CDPA 1988)
Wind Sculpture (2014), Howick Place, Victoria, London
Wind Sculpture (2014), Howick Place, Victoria, LondonWind Sculpture, 2014, steel armature with hand painted fibreglass resin cast, about 6 m high, permanently sited opposite 5 Howick Place, London SW1, the artist's first permanent public commission. Photographed July 2014.Photograph by Ham, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Work permanently sited in public in the United Kingdom; reproduced under freedom of panorama (s.62 CDPA 1988)
Wind Sculpture (2014) seen along Howick Place
Wind Sculpture (2014) seen along Howick PlaceThe Howick Place Wind Sculpture from the street, September 2014, showing the full height of the form against the office block it was commissioned for.Photograph by Paul Farmer, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Work permanently sited in public in the United Kingdom; reproduced under freedom of panorama (s.62 CDPA 1988)
Hibiscus Rising (2023), Aire Park, Leeds
Hibiscus Rising (2023), Aire Park, LeedsHibiscus Rising, 2023, hand painted fibreglass resin cast on a steel armature, 950 x 1000 x 400 cm, in Aire Park, Meadow Lane, Leeds, three weeks after its unveiling on 25 November 2023. The information hoarding for the work is visible behind it.Photograph by Tim Green, CC BY 2.0 · Work permanently sited in public in the United Kingdom; reproduced under freedom of panorama (s.62 CDPA 1988)
Hibiscus Rising (2023) at night, with the David Oluwale Bridge
Hibiscus Rising (2023) at night, with the David Oluwale BridgeHibiscus Rising lit at night, 12 December 2023, with the David Oluwale Bridge over the River Aire in the background: the work was sited beside the river in which Oluwale drowned in 1969.Photograph by Lajmmoore, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Work permanently sited in public in the United Kingdom; reproduced under freedom of panorama (s.62 CDPA 1988)

Chronology

  • 1962

    Born in London to Nigerian parents; his father a corporate lawyer.1129

  • 1965

    The family moves to Lagos when he is three; he stays until he is seventeen.1130

  • c. 1980

    Back in London for a foundation year at Wimbledon College of Art, he falls ill, in his own account to RA Magazine in 2016, with transverse myelitis three weeks into the course, spends a fortnight in a coma and wakes paralysed from the neck down; he later recovers movement on one side.29

  • 1984-1989

    Byam Shaw School of Art, London; a student show at the Byam Shaw Gallery in 1984 and a first solo show at Bedford Hill Gallery in 1989.10

  • 1989-1991

    MFA, Goldsmiths College, London.10

  • 1992

    Barclays Young Artist Award at the Serpentine Gallery.10

  • 1994

    Double Dutch at Centre 181 Gallery, London: the Dutch wax printed cotton bought in Brixton market becomes his material.1030

  • 1997

    Sensation at the Royal Academy, with Saatchi as an early buyer; first solo show at Stephen Friedman Gallery; Present Tense at the Art Gallery of Ontario.2910

  • 2000

    Camden Arts Centre solo show, with Hound; Tate buys The Swing (after Fragonard) the following year.2313

  • 2002

    Gallantry and Criminal Conversation commissioned by Okwui Enwezor for documenta 11, Kassel.1118

  • 2004

    Turner Prize shortlist at Tate Britain; Double Dutch survey at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, touring to Kunsthalle Wien.1310

  • 2005

    Appointed MBE in the New Year Honours, gazetted 31 December 2004; adopts the letters as part of his name.491746

  • 2008

    Buys the former carpet warehouse on the Regent's Canal in Hackney that becomes the studio and the home of Guest Projects; the mid-career survey opens at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, on 23 September.2913

  • 2009-2010

    The survey travels to the Brooklyn Museum and the National Museum of African Art, Washington.1617

  • 2010

    Nelson's Ship in a Bottle unveiled on the Fourth Plinth, Trafalgar Square, 24 May; Crash Willy wins the Charles Wollaston Award at the RA Summer Exhibition; honorary doctorate from the Royal College of Art.82710

  • 2012

    Nelson's Ship in a Bottle permanently installed outside the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, after an Art Fund appeal: GBP 50,000 from the Art Fund, GBP 251,677 from the public, GBP 650,000 in all.138

  • 2013

    Elected Royal Academician; FABRIC-ATION at Yorkshire Sculpture Park premieres the Wind Sculptures.2919

  • 2014

    Wind Sculpture installed at Howick Place, Victoria, his first permanent public commission; Magic Ladders at the Barnes Foundation; The British Library first shown in Brighton.419

  • 2016

    End of Empire commissioned by 14-18 NOW and Turner Contemporary, Margate; the RA Family Album wraps Burlington Gardens.1910

  • 2017

    Crash Willy sells at Sotheby's London for GBP 224,750 with premium, the auction record for a consigned work.2755

  • 2018-2019

    Wind Sculpture (SG) I on Doris C. Freedman Plaza, Central Park, for the Public Art Fund, then permanently at Davidson College; Cowboy Angels bought by the British Museum from Alan Cristea, registered 2018,7037.101948

  • 2019

    CBE in the New Year Honours, 'for services to Art'; Tate buys The British Library; the Yinka Shonibare Foundation registered as a UK charity.371244

  • 2021

    Whitechapel Gallery Art Icon Award (22 March); End of Empire retrospective at the Museum der Moderne Salzburg (22 May to 3 October); co-ordinates the RA Summer Exhibition.4515

  • 2022

    Wind Sculpture in Bronze I installed at Royal Djurgarden, Stockholm, in June; G.A.S. Foundation launched in Lagos and Ijebu in November.1045

  • 2023

    Decolonised Structures at Sharjah Biennial 15; Hibiscus Rising unveiled in Aire Park, Leeds, on 25 November.192

  • 2024

    Suspended States at Serpentine South (12 April to 1 September); Monument to the Restitution of the Mind and Soul in the Nigerian Pavilion, Venice.1419

  • 2025

    Safiotra [Hybridites/Hybridities] at Fondation H, Antananarivo, his first major solo exhibition on the African continent (11 April 2025 to 28 February 2026).19

  • 2025

    Monument to the Restitution of the Mind and Soul travels to Benin City as the centrepiece of Nigeria Imaginary: Homecoming, the opening exhibition of the Museum of West African Art; in November the museum postpones its opening and the exhibition indefinitely.54

  • 2026

    Stephen Friedman Gallery, his London gallery since 1997, closes: Artsy reports on 5 February that it has ceased operations, quoting the gallery's statement that it is closed to the public; Sanctuary opens at the Rose Art Museum on 11 February; Mennour, Paris, lists him as a represented artist and schedules a first solo show for 13 October; James Cohan Gallery announces on 15 July that it has become Norr Cohan.33313234

The market

Four auction houses publish results for him; none publishes the hammer, so every figure on this page is premium-inclusive and says so. The two highest sterling results, 236,750 pounds in 2018 and 137,000 pounds in 2017, both at Christie's London, were benefit lots donated by the artist and do not price a consigned work. The consigned record is Crash Willy at Sotheby's London on 16 May 2017, 224,750 pounds with premium, followed by the American tableaux at Christie's New York: Hound at 194,500 dollars in 2011, Plaything at 176,400 dollars in 2022 and The Age of Enlightenment at 157,500 dollars in 2024. Day-sale lots have real resistance: five of the nineteen lots Phillips offered between 2013 and 2025 show no result, and a room-sized installation of 1996-1997 and a 2013 mannequin sold below their low estimates in New York. The most recent results, in October and December 2025 at Phillips London, landed within or above estimate at 64,500 and 83,850 pounds. The largest published sum for any work is the 650,000 pounds the National Maritime Museum's Art Fund appeal raised to acquire Nelson's Ship in a Bottle in 2012, and it is not an auction result. Primary prices are set by Goodman, Norr Cohan, Mennour and Cristea Roberts and are not published; the London gallery that sold most of the work on the secondary market's provenance lines, Stephen Friedman, closed in February 2026.

Auction results for Yinka Shonibare
DateSaleWorkResultNote
7 March 2018Christie's, London (King Street), Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Auction, lot 206Girl Balancing Knowledge, 2015, fibreglass mannequin, Dutch wax cotton textile, books, globe and steel baseplate, 179 x 139 x 89 cm, uniqueHammer not published on the lot page
With premium GBP 236,750 with buyer's premium
GBP		Estimate GBP 70,000-90,000. A charity lot for Syri-Arts, donated by the artist courtesy Stephen Friedman Gallery and Pearl Lam Galleries. The highest sterling figure on record for the artist, but a benefit sale, not a consigned resale.
16 May 2017Sotheby's, London, Modern and Contemporary African Art (the inaugural sale), lot 106Crash Willy, 2009, mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton textile, leather, fibreglass and metal, 132 x 198 x 260 cm, uniqueHammer not published on the lot page
With premium GBP 224,750 with buyer's premium
GBP		Estimate GBP 120,000-180,000. Sotheby's called it 'a new world record at auction for the artist'. Provenance Stephen Friedman Gallery; shown at the 2010 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition where it won the Charles Wollaston Award. The record for a consigned, non-charity lot.
8 November 2011Christie's, New York, Evening Sale of Works from the Peter Norton Collection, lot 19Hound, 2000, eight elements: mannequins, fibreglass, acrylic, Dutch wax printed fabric, leather, rubber, plastic, glass and metal, life-sizeHammer not published on the lot page
With premium USD 194,500 with buyer's premium
USD		Estimate USD 150,000-200,000. Bought from Stephen Friedman Gallery in 2000 by Peter Norton; the first-generation tableau shown at Camden Arts Centre in 2000.
10 March 2022Christie's, New York, Post-War to Present, lot 316Plaything, 1996-1997, acrylic on printed fabric, in thirty parts, each 30.5 x 30.5 cmHammer not published on the lot page
With premium USD 176,400 with buyer's premium
USD		Estimate USD 100,000-150,000. Bought from Stephen Friedman Gallery in 1997 and held 25 years; exhibited Art Gallery of Ontario 1997 and the Double Dress tour 2002-2003. The strongest result for an early fabric painting. Christie's disclosed a minimum price guarantee on the lot.
1 October 2024Christie's, New York, Post-War to Present, lot 313The Age of Enlightenment - Gabrielle Emilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise du Chatelet, 2008, fibreglass sculpture, wood, Dutch wax fabric and mixed media, figure 118 x 65 x 85 cmHammer not published on the lot page
With premium USD 157,500 with buyer's premium
USD		Estimate USD 70,000-100,000. Bought from James Cohan Gallery in 2008; exhibited at the Barnes Foundation in 2014. The most recent six-figure result found.
8 March 2017Christie's, London, Post War & Contemporary Art Day Auction, lot 195Boy Balancing Knowledge II, 2016, fibreglass mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton textile, books, globe, leather and steel baseplate, 181 x 75 x 157 cmHammer not published on the lot page
With premium GBP 137,000 with buyer's premium
GBP		Estimate GBP 50,000-70,000. Donated by the artist courtesy James Cohan and Stephen Friedman Gallery: a benefit lot, sold to benefit Zeitz MOCAA.
8 March 2013Christie's, New York, First Open, lot 9Girl on Globe, 2012, mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton textile and globe, 210.8 x 152.4 x 114.3 cmHammer not published on the lot page
With premium USD 122,500 with buyer's premium
USD		Estimate USD 60,000-80,000. 'Gift of the artist; courtesy James Cohan Gallery': a benefit lot, sold for the benefit of the Brooklyn Museum.
14 October 2021Phillips, London, 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, lot 126Girl on Globe 3, 2011, fibreglass mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton and globe, mannequin 117 x 62 x 71.5 cmHammer not published on the lot page
With premium GBP 107,100 with buyer's premium
GBP		Estimate GBP 100,000-150,000. Sold at the low end of the estimate.
29 September 2023Christie's, New York, Post-War to Present, lot 376Ballerina with Violin, Swan Lake, 2013, fibreglass mannequin, Dutch wax cotton textile, globe, violin and pointe shoesHammer not published on the lot page
With premium USD 100,800 with buyer's premium
USD		Estimate USD 120,000-180,000: sold below the low estimate. Bought from Stephen Friedman Gallery in 2013.
11 April 2018Phillips, London, New Now, lot 8Ballet God (Poseidon), 2015, fibreglass mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton, trident, dagger, globe, pointe shoes, beads, tutu and steel baseplate, in 5 partsHammer not published on the lot page
With premium GBP 100,000 with buyer's premium
GBP		Estimate GBP 80,000-120,000.
16 May 2013Christie's, New York, Post-War & Contemporary Afternoon Session, lot 522Gallantry and Criminal Conversation (Threesome), 2002, three life-size fibreglass mannequins, three metal and wood cases, Dutch wax printed cotton, leather, wood and steelHammer not published on the lot page
With premium USD 99,750 with buyer's premium
USD		Estimate USD 60,000-80,000. Exhibited at documenta 11 in 2002 and in the 2008-2010 survey; sold above estimate.
7 March 2012Christie's, New York, First Open Post-War Contemporary Art, lot 25Victorian Philanthropist's Parlour, 1996-1997, Dutch wax printed fabric covered wood, cast iron, brass, marble, mirror, bound printed books, porcelain, glass, framed works on paper and props, about 262 x 488 x 531 cmHammer not published on the lot page
With premium USD 98,500 with buyer's premium
USD		Estimate USD 120,000-180,000: sold below the low estimate. A room-sized installation of 1996-1997 that had been in the 2008-2010 survey; a work that few buyers can house.
3 December 2025Phillips, London, New Now: Modern & Contemporary Art, lot 37Apollo (after Francavilla), 2022, unique fibreglass sculpture, hand-painted with Dutch wax batik, bespoke hand-coloured globe and gold leaf, on artist's wooden plinthHammer not published on the lot page
With premium GBP 83,850 with buyer's premium
GBP		Estimate GBP 50,000-70,000. The most recent result found, above the high estimate.
17 October 2025Phillips, London, Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale, lot 37Water Kid (Girl), 2020, fibreglass mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton textile, globe, brass, steel baseplate and antique water jugHammer not published on the lot page
With premium GBP 64,500 with buyer's premium
GBP		Estimate GBP 60,000-80,000.
16 May 2023Phillips, New York, 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Afternoon Session, lot 406Pedagogy Boy/Boy, 2003, wood, Dutch wax printed cotton, metal and fibreglassHammer not published on the lot page
With premium USD 86,360 with buyer's premium
USD		Estimate USD 40,000-60,000.
16 November 2017Christie's, New York, Post-War & Contemporary Art Afternoon Session, lot 881Un Ballo in Maschera (I-X), 2004-2005, giclee prints on Hahnemuehle rag paper in artist's frames, ten parts, edition 2/10Hammer not published on the lot page
With premium USD 75,000 with buyer's premium
USD		Estimate USD 60,000-80,000. The lot page states 'This work is eligible for a certificate of authenticity'.
17 May 2013Phillips, New York, Contemporary Art Day Sale, lot 131Boy on Flying Machine, mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton, steel, rubber, aluminium, overall 180.3 x 147.3 x 172.7 cmHammer not published on the lot page
With premium USD 106,250 with buyer's premium
USD		Estimate USD 80,000-120,000. The earliest Phillips result found and a six-figure one; from an important New York collection.

Hammer is the price at which the bidding stopped; with premium adds the fee the house charges the buyer on top. Hammer price and buyer's premium in the glossary.

Recorded without a public price

  • 24 September 2019 · Dressing Down, 1997, wax printed cotton textile, crinoline, fibreglass mannequin, aluminium, plastic and felt, in 5 parts, unique · Phillips, New York, New Now, lot 63 · unsold Estimate USD 100,000-150,000, bought in. The same work, per the Phillips provenance line, had sold at Christie's London on 16 October 2007, lot 541, for GBP 36,500 with premium from the Dakis Joannou Collection and passed through Stephen Friedman Fine Art in 2009.
  • 22 March 2022 · Modern Magic, 2021, patchwork, applique, embroidery and Dutch wax printed cotton textile, 140 x 100 cm · Sotheby's, London (online), Modern & Contemporary African Art and CCA Lagos Benefit Auction, lot 2 · unsold Estimate GBP 50,000-70,000, donated by the artist for the CCA Lagos benefit, closed unsold. Catalogued with the assistance of Shonibare Studio.

Where to see the work

Where to see the work of Yinka Shonibare
InstitutionCityHoldingsNote
National Maritime Museum, Royal Museums GreenwichLondonNelson's Ship in a Bottle (2010), outside the Sammy Ofer WingPermanent since 2012; free; visible from Greenwich Park.
Howick Place, VictoriaLondonWind Sculpture (2014), opposite 5 Howick PlaceOn the street; his first permanent public commission.
Aire Park, Meadow LaneLeedsHibiscus Rising (2023)Beside the David Oluwale Bridge over the River Aire; unveiled 25 November 2023.
TateLondonThe British Library (2014), The Swing (after Fragonard) (2001), Grain Weevil (2000)Neither large work was on display according to Tate's records on 16 September 2026.
Victoria and Albert MuseumLondonDiary of a Victorian Dandy (five prints), Climate Shit Drawing 1Prints and photographs; by appointment where not on display.
Rose Art Museum, Brandeis UniversityWaltham, MassachusettsSanctuary City (2024), lent by the Tia CollectionOn view 11 February 2026 to 3 January 2027.
National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian InstitutionWashington, D.C.Black Gold I (2006); Wind Sculpture VII (2016) at the museumFree admission.
Art Institute of ChicagoChicagoBig Boy (2002), Feather Pink (1997)Not on view in September 2026.
Davidson CollegeDavidson, North CarolinaWind Sculpture (SG) I (2018)Permanently installed after the Central Park showing.
Royal DjurgardenStockholmWind Sculpture in Bronze I (2022)Outdoor sculpture park.
Fondation HAntananarivoThe African Library (2018)In the foundation's permanent collection.

The essay

12 sections · about 4,300 words · 19 min
Chapter 1

The account that starts in Lagos and skips the coma

The short biography usually opens with Nigeria, and the artist himself has said that he cannot be defined without the British-colonial experience of his birth and background.

The short biography usually opens with Nigeria, and the artist himself has said that he cannot be defined without the British-colonial experience of his birth and background. The record is more precise than the summary. He was born in London in 1962, to a corporate-lawyer father and a mother who looked after four children, and the family moved to Lagos when he was three. He came back at seventeen for a foundation year at Wimbledon College of Art. In his own words to the Royal Academy's magazine in 2016: three weeks into the course he fell ill with transverse myelitis, was in a coma for a fortnight and woke up paralysed from the neck down. He eventually regained movement on one side, went back to art school at Byam Shaw from 1984 to 1989 and took an MFA at Goldsmiths in 1991.

Two things follow from that paragraph and both matter to anyone handling the work. The first is that a Shonibare is made by a studio, not by a hand: the artist develops projects on the first floor of a former carpet warehouse on the Regent's Canal in Hackney, bought in 2008, with a team of three in 2016 and a circle of collaborators he names as sculptors, costumiers, photographers and printmakers; drawings and works on paper he makes himself, there or at a second studio at home in Bow. The second is that the outsider position his work keeps returning to, the dandy who talks his way into rooms that are closed to him, is documented as lived experience rather than as a pose. The Victoria and Albert Museum's own record of Diary of a Victorian Dandy (1998) reads the series that way.

RA Magazine records that Charles Saatchi bought early work, and the Royal Academy's Sensation show of 1997 made the name. The studio's CV lists a student show at the Byam Shaw Gallery in 1984 and a first solo show at Bedford Hill Gallery in 1989; the first solo show at Stephen Friedman Gallery followed in 1997, and the first museum project the same year at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Chapter 2

The cloth is the argument

The material entered the work in 1994 with Double Dutch at Centre 181 Gallery: Dutch wax printed cotton, bought in Brixton market and stretched, cut and sewn into whatever the subject needed.

The material entered the work in 1994 with Double Dutch at Centre 181 Gallery: Dutch wax printed cotton, bought in Brixton market and stretched, cut and sewn into whatever the subject needed. The artist later put the question behind the cloth in a single line, about Line Painting of 2003: How can I bring something from Brixton market into the gallery?, and the answer turned out to be a thirty-year practice. The cloth is an Indonesian batik technique taken up and industrialised by Dutch manufacturers, sold into West Africa in the nineteenth century, adopted there as dress and commemorative cloth and sold back into Britain through immigrant markets. It looks African, it is European by manufacture and it is worn by people whose identity it is taken to express. That triple status is the point, and it is why the same pattern can serve an eighteenth-century costume on a fibreglass body, the sails of HMS Victory, the spine of a book and the skin of a nine-metre hibiscus.

The intellectual frame is not inferred. Asked in 2019 about his influences, he named them: his practice has always been rooted in postcolonial and deconstructive theory, the texts of Edward Said and Jacques Derrida, and not in the sculptural line of Moore, Hepworth or his Lisson Gallery contemporaries. The subjects come from the European canon he studied in London: Fragonard's swing, Gainsborough's Mr and Mrs Andrews, Hogarth's scenarios, Goya's sleep of reason, the Enlightenment savants of the Age of Enlightenment series, the Victorian parlour, Nelson. He has told interviewers he wanted the work to deal with serious issues in a playful way and to leave a space for reflection rather than decide the outcome; the Smithsonian's press release quotes him saying the work reflects the artificial construct of culture, neither the authentic African experience nor the authentic British one but somewhere both between and separate.

The heads are the tell that dates a figure. The mannequins were headless from the early 1990s, which the artist has described as a joke about the French Revolution and the guillotine; when terrorist attacks became frequent he stopped making decapitated figures because it had become too macabre, and the globe head took over, a device he says voids the issue of identity and lets the work be viewed everywhere by everyone. A headless figure, a globe-headed figure and a masked or animal-headed hybrid belong to three successive phases of the same practice.

Chapter 3

How a Shonibare is made, and what a buyer should ask

The tableaux are life-size fibreglass mannequins costumed in the cloth, with props, on steel baseplates, usually catalogued in several parts: Hound (2000) is eight elements, Gallantry and Criminal...

The tableaux are life-size fibreglass mannequins costumed in the cloth, with props, on steel baseplates, usually catalogued in several parts: Hound (2000) is eight elements, Gallantry and Criminal Conversation (Threesome) (2002) three figures and three cases. The costumes are cut to period patterns by costumiers; the fabric is the retail cloth, so the conservation questions are those of any dyed printed cotton on a figure, light, dust and handling, and of fibreglass and resin under paint. The libraries are hardback books bound in the cloth with foil-blocked names on the spines: Tate's The British Library (2014) is 6,328 books, a table and chairs and a networked web component that the museum has to keep alive, a maintenance item as real as any motor in a kinetic work.

The outdoor sculptures are a different manufacture. The Wind Sculptures of 2013 onwards are steel armatures with hand painted fibreglass resin casts, 610 by 340 by 80 centimetres for the first series; Hibiscus Rising is the same construction at 950 by 1000 by 400 centimetres; Wind Sculpture in Bronze I (2022) is lacquered bronze on concrete. These are contracted out: the commissioning consultants' page carries a photograph courtesy of MDM Fabrications and Mediorite's film on the commission interviews Nigel Schofield of MDM about the fabrication, and the Henry Moore Foundation gave a grant towards the fabrication of the Leeds sculpture. A hand painted surface outdoors is a repainting question, and the studio, not the fabricator, is the party to ask about the paint system and its maintenance history.

Nelson's Ship in a Bottle is the most complicated object he has made and the two published descriptions of it do not agree. The studio lists fibreglass, steel, resin, UV ink on Dutch wax print cotton, linen rigging, acrylic and wood at 290 by 525 by 235 centimetres; the Art Fund, which paid for it, lists sustainably sourced wood and other hardwoods, brass, textiles, acrylic (PMMA), LED lighting and a ventilation system at 300 by 535 by 250 centimetres. The Open University's Clare Taylor explains the ventilation: the wooden stand with its imitation portholes houses fans that stop condensation forming inside the bottle. The neck is corked, wound with rope and sealed in wax that carries the initials YS MBE, which she reads as the artist's form of signature. How the ship went into the bottle is not published; asked in 2019, he answered that if he told the interviewer he would have to kill her first.

Chapter 5

The institutions, verified against their own records

The studio's CV lists 50 collections, public and private.

The studio's CV lists 50 collections, public and private. The ones this page checked against an institutional record are these. Tate bought The Swing (after Fragonard) in 2001, with the lithograph Grain Weevil, and in 2019 bought The British Library with Art Fund support and money from the Tate International Council, the Africa Acquisitions Committee, Wendy Fisher and the Ekard Collection; it was displayed from 25 March 2019 to 24 April 2022 and was not on display on 16 September 2026. The Victoria and Albert Museum holds Climate Shit Drawing 1 (2008) from his first print edition and the five Diary of a Victorian Dandy prints, bought in 2013 for the Staying Power project with Black Cultural Archives. The Art Institute of Chicago has Feather Pink (1997), a gift of the Peter Norton Family Foundation in 1998, and Big Boy (2002), a gift of Susan and Lewis Manilow in 2004. The Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art described Black Gold I (2006) as its own in 2009. The British Museum bought the five Cowboy Angels woodcuts (2017) from Alan Cristea in 2018 with the Rootstein Hopkins Foundation, registration 2018,7037.2.1-5, its first works by him. Art UK lists Line Painting (2003) in the Arts Council Collection, Cheeky Little Astronomer (2013) at the Royal Academy, Trumpet Boy (2010) at the Foundling Museum, Untitled (Dollhouse) (2002) at Bradford and a 2009 Nelson's Ship in a Bottle in the Government Art Collection.

The shows that carry weight are the survey and the retrospective. The Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, organised and toured a mid-career survey curated by Rachel Kent: Sydney from 23 September 2008 to 1 February 2009, the Brooklyn Museum from 26 June to 20 September 2009 and the National Museum of African Art in Washington from 10 November 2009 to 7 March 2010, where 21 works filled two floors and the museum called it the most comprehensive exhibition of his work. The Museum der Moderne Salzburg's End of Empire, 22 May to 3 October 2021, showed about sixty works from three decades and produced the Hirmer catalogue with Paul Gilroy's interview. Serpentine South's Suspended States, 12 April to 1 September 2024, was his first London solo exhibition in more than twenty years and the source of Sanctuary City, which the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis is showing from 11 February 2026 to 3 January 2027 on loan from the Tia Collection.

The biennale record runs from Sydney in 1996 and Enwezor's Johannesburg Biennale in 1997 through the 49th Venice Biennale in 2001, where the Smithsonian records an honourable mention, documenta 11 in 2002, the African Pavilion at Venice in 2007, Sharjah in 2023 and the Nigerian Pavilion at Venice in 2024. The honours are gazetted: the CBE appears in the London Gazette supplement of 28 December 2018 as Artist, for services to Art, promoting the MBE of 2005.

Chapter 6

Nelson's ship: how a temporary plinth became a permanent museum object

The Greater London Authority commissioned Nelson's Ship in a Bottle in 2009 for the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, and it stood there from 24 May 2010, the seventh work in the series, in sight of...

The Greater London Authority commissioned Nelson's Ship in a Bottle in 2009 for the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, and it stood there from 24 May 2010, the seventh work in the series, in sight of Nelson's Column. It is HMS Victory at about one thirtieth of full size, sails set for the light wind of the day of Trafalgar, in a glass bottle on a wooden stand; the 37 sails are the Dutch wax cloth, in two patterns, one of them printed with anchors in the manner of the commemorative fancy prints sold in West Africa. At the unveiling he spoke about London as a global city, and the museum that now owns the work quotes him: It's a celebration of London's immense ethnic wealth, giving expression to and honouring the many cultures and ethnicities that are still breathing precious wind into the sails of the United Kingdom. He has also said the work made a huge impact partly because it divided opinion, read by some as celebratory or even jingoistic and by others as critical of Nelson and British history.

The move to Greenwich was paid for in public. The Art Fund and the National Maritime Museum ran an appeal to acquire and permanently display the work outside the museum's new Sammy Ofer Wing; the Art Fund's own record gives its grant as 50,000 pounds, the public campaign as 251,677 pounds, mostly from individuals and the total cost as 650,000 pounds. The museum's page says the work has stood there permanently since 2012, and it has: the plates on this page were taken in 2015 and 2024. That 650,000 pounds is the largest published figure attached to any work by him, and it is a public acquisition price, not a market price. The museum now advertises the sculpture as a place to take a photograph of oneself, which the Open University's transcript notes as the point at which visitors stopped being viewers and became participants.

Chapter 7

Hibiscus Rising: a memorial commissioned by the people it is for

The Leeds sculpture was not a museum's idea.

The Leeds sculpture was not a museum's idea. The David Oluwale Memorial Association, a Leeds charity, commissioned it to honour David Oluwale, a British-Nigerian resident of the city who, in the words of the studio's own announcement, drowned in the River Aire in April 1969 after being systematically harassed by members of the Leeds City police force, and whom the David Oluwale Memorial Association's own history describes as hounded to his death on 18 April 1969; the studio's announcement of the commission uses the words racism, destitution and police persecution. A challenge grant from LEEDS 2023 paid for a maquette in 2021, which was shown at The Tetley from 11 September 2022 to 8 January 2023 alongside community events, and the finished work, hand painted fibreglass resin on a steel armature at 950 by 1000 by 400 centimetres, was unveiled in Aire Park on Meadow Lane on 25 November 2023 beside the David Oluwale Bridge and the river. The Art Fund gave 200,000 pounds towards the commission and ran a crowdfunding campaign with more than 250 donors for the landscaped space around it; the Henry Moore Foundation gave a grant towards the fabrication; Leeds City Council and Arts Council England supported it. Visit Leeds calls it the largest permanent sculpture by him in the United Kingdom.

The form is a hibiscus, the flower the studio describes as ubiquitous in Nigeria, where both he and Oluwale spent their childhoods, with the stamens rising ten metres above the paving in red and yellow and the petals painted in the cloth patterns. He said when the commission was announced that it was an honour to be asked to create a new work to remember an ordinary man with an extraordinary legacy, that it would be a symbol of hope and a place for people to come together; the Art Fund quotes him on the scale, large because he wanted it present, standing proudly and rising, a joyous thing. The portrait on this page was taken by the commissioning body's photographer on 24 November 2023, the day before the public unveiling.

Chapter 8

The market: benefit lots at the top, day sales underneath

The published numbers need sorting before they mean anything, because the two highest sterling results are charity lots.

The published numbers need sorting before they mean anything, because the two highest sterling results are charity lots. Christie's London sold Girl Balancing Knowledge (2015) on 7 March 2018 for 236,750 pounds with premium against an estimate of 70,000 to 90,000, but the lot was donated by the artist for the charity Syri-Arts, courtesy Stephen Friedman Gallery and Pearl Lam Galleries; Boy Balancing Knowledge II (2016) made 137,000 pounds at Christie's London on 8 March 2017 and was likewise donated by the artist, to benefit Zeitz MOCAA; Girl on Globe (2012) made 122,500 dollars at Christie's New York on 8 March 2013 as a gift of the artist to benefit the Brooklyn Museum. Benefit lots are bought by supporters at prices that are part purchase and part donation, and they do not set the price of a consigned work.

The consigned record is Crash Willy (2009), the unique fox-hunt tableau that had won the Charles Wollaston Award at the 2010 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition: Sotheby's London sold it on 16 May 2017 in its first Modern and Contemporary African Art sale for 224,750 pounds with premium against 120,000 to 180,000, and Sotheby's own page calls it a new world record at auction for the artist. Below it sit the big American tableaux: Hound (2000) at 194,500 dollars in the Peter Norton Collection evening sale at Christie's New York on 8 November 2011; Plaything (1996-1997), thirty fabric panels bought from Stephen Friedman in 1997 and held for a quarter of a century, at 176,400 dollars on 10 March 2022, a lot on which Christie's disclosed a minimum price guarantee; The Age of Enlightenment (2008), a seated Marquise du Chatelet from the 2008 series of that name, shown in the Barnes Foundation's Magic Ladders exhibition in 2014, at 157,500 dollars on 1 October 2024 against 70,000 to 100,000. Gallantry and Criminal Conversation (Threesome) (2002), with documenta 11 and the survey tour in its exhibition history, made 99,750 dollars in 2013.

The middle of the market is a day-sale market with real resistance. Phillips has offered 19 lots between May 2013 and December 2025: 14 sold, two of them benefit lots (a Whitechapel Gallery Art Icon charity lot of March 2021 with no price published and Bird, December 2020, 56,700 pounds, sold to benefit the Yinka Shonibare Foundation), and 5 show no result, among them a unique Dressing Down (1997) estimated at 100,000 to 150,000 dollars in 2019 and a pair of 19th Century Kid figures in 2013. Ballerina with Violin, Swan Lake (2013) sold below its low estimate at 100,800 dollars in September 2023, and the room-sized Victorian Philanthropist's Parlour (1996-1997) made 98,500 dollars in 2012 against 120,000 to 180,000, a room-sized work that few buyers can house. The most recent results are steadier: Apollo (after Francavilla) (2022) made 83,850 pounds against 50,000 to 70,000 at Phillips London on 3 December 2025, and Water Kid (Girl) (2020) 64,500 pounds within estimate on 17 October 2025. Not one of the four houses publishes the hammer price on the lot page, so every figure here is premium-inclusive and the market results table says so on each line.

The primary market is priced by the galleries and none of them publishes bands. The prints are the accessible tier: Cristea Roberts, the exclusive representative for the original prints, lists editions of 15 to 60, and Phillips has offered a 2020 print, Aristocrat in Blue, numbered 20 of 40, at an estimate of 1,000 to 2,000 pounds, where it went unsold. A benefit lot for CCA Lagos at Sotheby's in March 2022, the textile Modern Magic (2021) at 50,000 to 70,000 pounds, also went unsold.

Chapter 9

Authenticity today: who confirms a work, and what is not numbered

There is no catalogue raisonne and no authentication board, and none is needed while the artist and his studio are active.

There is no catalogue raisonne and no authentication board, and none is needed while the artist and his studio are active. The authority is Shonibare Studio in London, which auction houses thank for cataloguing assistance and which issues certificates of authenticity on request; the rights authority is DACS. The galleries of record are Stephen Friedman for 1997 to early 2026, James Cohan, now Norr Cohan, for New York since 2005 and Goodman since 2018, with Mennour in Paris listed as a representing gallery in 2026 and a first solo show there scheduled for 13 October to 28 November 2026. Nothing attributed to him is disputed in the sources consulted.

The documentary gaps are about numbering and description rather than authorship. The studio's artwork index carries Wind Sculpture I, II, IV, V, VI and VII and no III; its list of public works gives the Howick Place sculpture of 2014 no numeral at all, and the commissioning consultants call it simply Wind Sculpture. The two Yorkshire Sculpture Park works of 2013 are I and II; IV and V were shown on the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago's plaza from June 2014 and the studio's public-works list places V at the New Orleans Museum of Art's Besthoff Sculpture Garden; VI toured to Lagos for the British Council in 2016 and to the Royal Academy in 2017 and is credited to the Herbert Gerisch-Stiftung in Neumuenster; VII stands at the Smithsonian. A second series, Wind Sculpture (SG), runs to at least IX, with I at Davidson College, II at the Fukuoka Art Museum, III at the Norval Foundation in Cape Town and IX at the Cincinnati Art Museum; a TG version is in Omaha and the bronze in Stockholm. A buyer offered a Wind Sculpture should ask which series, which numeral, which fabricator and which paint campaign, and expect the studio to answer from its own records.

The Greenwich ship shows the other kind of gap. Two institutions publish two material descriptions and two sets of dimensions for the same object, and neither says whether the sails, which are dyed cotton exposed to weather since 2010, have been replaced. That is a conservation history a museum should be able to state and this page could not find.

Chapter 10

The literature, and where the arguments were made

An early sustained critical reading, after Kobena Mercer's piece in frieze in 1995, was Okwui Enwezor's, in Nka and Flash Art in 1997 under the title The Joke Is on You, five years before Enwezor...

An early sustained critical reading, after Kobena Mercer's piece in frieze in 1995, was Okwui Enwezor's, in Nka and Flash Art in 1997 under the title The Joke Is on You, five years before Enwezor commissioned Gallantry and Criminal Conversation for documenta 11. Tania Guha reviewed Double Dutch in Third Text in 1994; Nancy Hynes wrote on him in Prospect in 1998 and with John Picton in African Arts in 2001; Jean Fisher reviewed the Camden Arts Centre show in Artforum in September 2000; Anthony Downey's interview in BOMB in 2005 is the one the auction catalogues still quote for the masquerade and the relations of power.

The monograph is Rachel Kent's Yinka Shonibare MBE, first published by Prestel with the Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney in 2008 as the survey catalogue and reissued revised and expanded in 2014 with an essay by Robert Hobbs and a conversation with Anthony Downey, 240 pages and 175 colour illustrations, which the publisher calls the most comprehensive resource on the artist. Around it sit the exhibition books: Double Dress (Israel Museum, 2002, edited by Suzanne Landau and Jean Fisher), Double Dutch (Boijmans Van Beuningen and Kunsthalle Wien, NAi, 2004), FABRIC-ATION (Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 2013, edited by Sarah Coulson and Clare Lilley), the Barnes Foundation's Magic Ladders (2014), the Hirmer catalogue of the Salzburg retrospective (2021) with Thorsten Sadowsky, Marijana Schneider, Antwaun Sargent and Paul Gilroy's conversation with the artist and the Serpentine's Suspended States (2024). The studio's bibliography page lists them all and is the place to check a citation.

Chapter 11

Two foundations and a farm

The question a living artist's page has to answer, what structure survives the studio, has a partial answer here and it is in Lagos.

The question a living artist's page has to answer, what structure survives the studio, has a partial answer here and it is in Lagos. The Yinka Shonibare Foundation was registered as a charity in England and Wales in 2019, number 1183321, to support residencies, collaborations and education. In November 2022 it launched the Guest Artists Space Foundation, G.A.S., founded in 2019, across two sites: a building in Oniru, Lagos, designed by the Ghanaian-British architect Elsie Owusu with the Nigerian architect Nihinlola Shonibare, with a studio, a gallery and accommodation for artists in residence, and the Ecology Green Farm near Ijebu Ode in Ogun State, a 54-acre working farm with a residence and workshop designed by Papa Omotayo and built, according to the studio's summary of the BBC World Service programme, from 40,000 bricks made by hand by local artisans. He has said the point of the farm is to help develop food security and sustainability in an area where unemployment is high and food supply is precarious.

The London end is older. Guest Projects has run in the Hackney studio since 2008, a proposal box outside the building and a month's residency for the best ideas, and the Serpentine counted it as part of the practice in 2024. The Stockholm School of Economics has a Yinka Shonibare Room with a cloth-bound library and a thesis scholarship that sends students to a G.A.S. residency. What none of this states is the estate plan: who is to hold the archive, the moulds and the unsold editions, and whether the foundation is one day to confirm works. That is the open question a collector should keep asking.

Chapter 12

What is contested, and what only looks it

Nothing about attribution is in dispute.

Nothing about attribution is in dispute. The arguments are about reading, and the artist has been the first to say so: he has described Nelson's Ship in a Bottle as a work that divided opinion between those who found it celebratory and those who found it critical, and said he wanted it that way, a space for reflection rather than a decided outcome. Decolonised Structures, the seven London statues of imperial figures recast in cloth for Sharjah in 2023 and shown at the Serpentine in 2024, and Monument to the Restitution of the Mind and Soul, the clay replicas of 153 objects taken from Benin City by the British expedition of 1897 shown in the Nigerian Pavilion at Venice in 2024, put him inside the public-statue and restitution debates by choice; the studio's own text says the Venice work calls for alternative monuments and the repatriation of the objects. The work's return to Benin City did not go to plan: it was the centrepiece of Nigeria Imaginary: Homecoming, the opening show of the Museum of West African Art, and in November 2025 the museum postponed its opening and the exhibition indefinitely, citing, in its own statement, misconceptions about its role in Benin City's cultural landscape; the Museums Association reported it still closed on 20 November 2025. Anyone buying or lending should expect the work to be read politically and know that the artist declines to call it ideological.

The small factual conflicts in the record are listed under open questions: the numeral of the Howick Place sculpture, the two descriptions of the Greenwich ship and whether the Fourth Plinth showing ended on 30 or 31 January 2012; the MBE, which the studio and the Smithsonian give as 2005, was gazetted on 31 December 2004 in the New Year Honours list for 2005. The Communication Group's post about the Howick Place unveiling is dated 15 February 2016 but names no date; the commissioning consultants date the work to 2014 and two of the photographs on this page were taken in front of it in July and September 2014.

What is documented

Born
1962, London, to Nigerian parents; raised in Lagos from the age of three.11
Works in
London: a studio on the Regent's Canal in Hackney, bought in 2008, and a second studio at home in Bow.29
The illness
In his own account to RA Magazine (2016): transverse myelitis three weeks into his foundation year at Wimbledon, at seventeen or eighteen: a fortnight in a coma, paralysis from the neck down, partial recovery on one side. Every account of how the work is made starts here.29
Training
Byam Shaw School of Art 1984-1989; MFA Goldsmiths 1989-1991.10
The letters after the name
MBE in the New Year Honours 2005, gazetted 31 December 2004 'For services to Art', which he used as a signature and in his working name; CBE in the New Year Honours 2019, gazetted 28 December 2018 as 'Artist. For services to Art'; Royal Academician since 2013.49463729
The material
Dutch wax printed cotton: an Indonesian batik technique industrialised in the Netherlands, sold into West Africa and bought by him in Brixton market. The fabric is on the sails at Greenwich, the mannequins, the books, the prints and the painted skins of the outdoor sculptures.301
Rights
Administered by DACS (the studio's credit line reads 'DACS / Artimage'); auction houses pay the Artist's Resale Right to his collection agent.821
Galleries in 2026
Goodman (Johannesburg, Cape Town, London, New York), Norr Cohan (New York, formerly James Cohan), Mennour (Paris, from 2026), Cristea Roberts (prints). Stephen Friedman Gallery, his London gallery since 1997, closed in February 2026: Artsy reported on 5 February 2026 that it had ceased operations, quoting the gallery's statement that it was closed to the public.3534323633
Foundations
The Yinka Shonibare Foundation (UK charity 1183321, 2019) and the Guest Artists Space Foundation in Lagos and on a farm at Ijebu, Ogun State (founded 2019, launched November 2022).4445
Catalogue raisonne
None. The studio's own website lists the works and the shows; auction houses catalogue with the studio's help.2810
Hibiscus Rising, the money
Art Fund grant of GBP 200,000 towards the commission and a crowdfunding campaign with more than 250 donors for the surrounding space; a Henry Moore Foundation grant towards fabrication; managed by LEEDS 2023 and supported by Leeds City Council and Arts Council England.326
The plates on this page
Six photographs of three sculptures permanently sited in public in the United Kingdom (Greenwich, Howick Place, Leeds), reproduced under s.62 CDPA 1988 with the photographers' CC licences read from the Commons API; the portrait is the commissioning body's own CC BY-SA 2.0 photograph of 24 November 2023, the day before the Leeds unveiling.47142

Technique

The cloth
Dutch wax printed cotton, industrially made, bought at retail in Brixton market from 1994. It is the constant across every medium and the first thing to check on any work: pattern, ground colour and the way it is cut to a period silhouette.3010
The tableaux
Life-size fibreglass mannequins costumed in the cloth, with props (globes, books, violins, pointe shoes, furniture), on steel baseplates, usually in several parts; the costumes are cut to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century patterns by costumiers working for the studio.2129
The heads
Headless from the early 1990s, 'a joke about the French Revolution' in his words, then replaced by globes or dropped altogether when terrorist attacks made decapitation 'too macabre'. The presence or absence of a head, and a globe painted with meteorological or political maps, dates a figure.30
Outdoor sculpture
Steel armature with a hand painted fibreglass resin cast (Wind Sculptures, 610 x 340 x 80 cm; Hibiscus Rising, 950 x 1000 x 400 cm); one bronze version, lacquered, at Stockholm. Fabricators are contracted: MDM Fabrications is credited in a photograph on the consultants' page for the Howick Place work and interviewed about its fabrication in Mediorite's film on the commission. Hand painting outdoors raises the maintenance question a buyer should put to the studio.974551
Nelson's Ship in a Bottle
Two descriptions exist. The studio: fibreglass, steel, resin, UV ink on Dutch wax print cotton, linen rigging, acrylic, wood, 290 x 525 x 235 cm. The Art Fund: sustainably sourced wood, other hardwoods, brass, textiles, acrylic (PMMA), LED lighting and ventilation system, 300 x 535 x 250 cm. The wooden stand houses fans against condensation; the neck is corked, roped and sealed in wax with the initials YS MBE.83846
Photographs and film
C-type and chromogenic prints in editions of 3 to 5 plus proofs, signed on a paper label on the reverse or on a metal plaque on the frame; the films (Un Ballo in Maschera, Odile and Odette) circulate as giclee stills in editions of 10. The Diary of a Victorian Dandy series carries two edition statements: 3 plus 1 proof (Phillips, 2020, for a 1998 print) and 5 plus 2 proofs (the V&A, for a 2012 printing).264020
Prints
Lithographs and woodcuts with fabric collage: Climate Shit Drawing 1 (2008) was the first print edition; the Cowboy Angels woodcuts (2017) carry batik collage; the Modern Spiritual series (2023) is published through Cristea Roberts, Modern Spiritual III in an edition of 25.404536
Libraries
Hardback books bound in the cloth with gold foil names on the spines: The British Library (2014) has 6,328 books, software and a networked web component that a museum must keep running.12

The surviving work

What is accepted
No published count. The studio website carries an artwork index and a CV listing 50 collections, public and private; the Prestel monograph (2008, revised 2014) and the Salzburg catalogue (2021, about sixty works) are the fullest illustrated lists.
What is contested
Nothing attributed to him is disputed in the sources consulted. The open points are documentary: which numeral the Howick Place Wind Sculpture carries, and which of the two published descriptions of Nelson's Ship in a Bottle is the studio's final one.
Who rules on attribution
Shonibare Studio, London, which catalogues works for auction houses (Sotheby's, 2022) and issues certificates of authenticity on request (Christie's, 2017); DACS administers reproduction rights and the resale right. The galleries of record for provenance are Stephen Friedman (1997-2026; closed February 2026), James Cohan / Norr Cohan and Goodman.
is actually not about the representation of politics but the politics of representationYinka Shonibare on his work, quoted in Rachel Kent (ed.), Yinka Shonibare MBE, exh. cat., Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2008, p. 24, as reproduced in the Christie's lot essay for Girl Balancing Knowledge, London, 7 March 2018 (source 21); the sentence every serious reading of the cloth starts from

Questions about Yinka Shonibare

Who is Yinka Shonibare?

Sculptor; Installation artist; Painter; Photographer; Film maker.

Where can you see work by Yinka Shonibare?

National Maritime Museum, Royal Museums Greenwich (London); Howick Place, Victoria (London); Aire Park, Meadow Lane (Leeds); Tate (London); Victoria and Albert Museum (London); Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University (Waltham, Massachusetts).

What does the market for Yinka Shonibare look like?

Four auction houses publish results for him; none publishes the hammer, so every figure on this page is premium-inclusive and says so. The two highest sterling results, 236,750 pounds in 2018 and 137,000 pounds in 2017, both at Christie's London, were benefit lots donated by the artist and do not price a consigned work.

What is still unresolved about Yinka Shonibare?

Which numeral, if any, the Howick Place Wind Sculpture carries: the studio's artwork index runs I, II, IV, V, VI and VII, and its public-works list gives the Howick Place work no number.

Open questions

  • Which numeral, if any, the Howick Place Wind Sculpture carries: the studio's artwork index runs I, II, IV, V, VI and VII, and its public-works list gives the Howick Place work no number.
  • Which description of Nelson's Ship in a Bottle is definitive: the studio's (fibreglass, steel, resin, UV ink on cotton, 290 x 525 x 235 cm) or the Art Fund's (hardwoods, brass, textiles, PMMA, LED lighting and ventilation, 300 x 535 x 250 cm), and whether the sails have been replaced since 2012.
  • What the studio's inventory numbering looks like, how the archive is kept and whether a certificate is issued at the point of sale or only on request, as the 2017 Christie's wording ('eligible for a certificate') implies.
  • What happened to the primary-market paperwork and any consigned stock held by Stephen Friedman Gallery when it closed in February 2026: most provenance lines from 1997 to 2025 run through that gallery.
  • The hammer prices behind the published premium-inclusive results: none of the four houses prints the hammer on the lot page.
  • Whether the Fourth Plinth showing ended on 30 or 31 January 2012: the studio's artwork page says 30, its public-works list says 31.
  • The estate plan: two foundations exist (2019, 2022), but nothing published says what happens to the studio archive, the moulds and the editions.
  • Which edition statement governs Diary of a Victorian Dandy: 3 plus 1 proof (Phillips, 2020, for a 1998 print) or 5 plus 2 proofs (the V&A, for a 2012 printing), and whether the 2012 printing is a second edition.

Sources

  1. 1Royal Museums Greenwich, 'Yinka Shonibare's Nelson's Ship in a Bottle', National Maritime Museum attraction page: permanently displayed outside the Sammy Ofer Wing since 2012 after an Art Fund appeal; 37 sails; the artist's statement. rmg.co.uk/national-maritime-museum/...
  2. 2Visit Leeds (Leeds City Council), 'New sculpture from Yinka Shonibare CBE RA to be unveiled as part of LEEDS 2023', press release: 'the largest permanent sculpture by Yinka Shonibare CBE RA in the UK', 10 m, Meadow Lane, Henry Moore Foundation fabrication grant, unveiled 25 November 2023. visitleeds.co.uk/news/...
  3. 3Art Fund, 'In pictures: Yinka Shonibare's sculpture for Leeds': GBP 200,000 grant toward the commission, Art Happens crowdfunding with over 250 funders for the surrounding space; 'first permanent public art commission in the north of England'. artfund.org/our-purpose/...
  4. 4HS Projects, ''Wind Sculpture', Yinka Shonibare CBE (RA)', the commissioning consultants' project page: commissioned on behalf of Doughty Hanson and Terrace Hill, 2014, 'first permanent public art commission', 6.1 x 3.4 m, opposite 5 Howick Place, a photograph credited 'Photo courtesy MDM Fabrications'. hsprojects.com/project/...
  5. 5The Communication Group, 'Yinka Shonibare's Sculpture arrives at Howick Place': Doughty Hanson & Co Real Estate and Terrace Hill commissioned Wind Sculpture through HS Projects; 6 x 3 m; the post is dated 15 February 2016 and gives no unveiling date. thecommunicationgroup.co.uk/yinka-shonibares-sculpture-ar...
  6. 6David Oluwale Memorial Association (DOMA), rememberoluwale.org: Hibiscus Rising opened 25 November 2023 at Meadow Lane, Aire Park; project managed by LEEDS 2023 and supported by Leeds City Council and Arts Council England. rememberoluwale.org
  7. 7Yinka Shonibare studio website, artwork record 'Hibiscus Rising, 2023': hand painted fiberglass resin cast with a steel armature, 950 x 1000 x 400 cm; caption 'Image courtesy the artist, LEEDS 2023, the David Oluwale Memorial Association and Leeds City Council. Photo by David Lindsay'. yinkashonibare.com/artwork/...
  8. 8Yinka Shonibare studio website, artwork record 'Nelson's Ship in a Bottle, 2010': fibreglass, steel, resin, UV ink on Dutch wax print cotton, linen rigging, acrylic, wood; 290 x 525 x 235 cm; Trafalgar Square 24 May 2010 to 30 January 2012; rights line 'All Rights Reserved, DACS / Artimage'. yinkashonibare.com/artwork/...
  9. 9Yinka Shonibare studio website, artwork record 'Wind Sculpture I, 2013': steel armature with hand painted fiberglass resin cast, 610 x 340 x 80 cm, Yorkshire Sculpture Park 2 March to 1 September 2013; rights line 'All Rights Reserved, DACS / Artimage'. yinkashonibare.com/artwork/...
  10. 10Yinka Shonibare studio website, CV: education (Byam Shaw 1984-1989, Goldsmiths 1989-1991), honours (MBE 2005, RA 2013, CBE 2019), solo and group exhibitions by year, public works, awards and the list of 50 collections (headed Collections; public and private). yinkashonibare.com/cv
  11. 11Yinka Shonibare studio website, Biography: born London 1962, moved to Lagos at three; documenta 11 commission 2002; Turner Prize nomination 2004; mid-career survey MCA Sydney 2008 touring to Brooklyn and the Smithsonian 2009; Fourth Plinth 2010; RA 2013; CBE 2019; Tate acquired The British Library 2019; Whitechapel Art Icon 2021; Salzburg retrospective 2021; G.A.S. Foundation launched November 2022; Sharjah 2023; Serpentine 2024; Venice 2024; Fondation H 2025. yinkashonibare.com/biography
  12. 12Tate collection record T15250, The British Library, 2014 (Tate API v2, fetched 2026-09-16): '6,328 books, dutch wax print fabric, gold foil, software, networked, world wide web, table and chairs'; 'Purchased with Art Fund support and funds provided by the Tate International Council, the Africa Acquisitions Committee, Wendy Fisher and THE EKARD COLLECTION 2019'; displayed at Tate 25 March 2019 to 24 April 2022. tate.org.uk/art/...
  13. 13Tate collection record T07952, The Swing (after Fragonard), 2001, 'Purchased 2001' (Tate API v2): exhibition history including Turner Prize 2004, Tate Britain, 20 October to 23 December 2004, and the MCA Sydney survey 23 September 2008 to 1 February 2009; record P78516 Grain Weevil, lithograph, Purchased 2001. tate.org.uk/art/...
  14. 14Serpentine, 'Yinka Shonibare CBE: Suspended States', Serpentine South, 12 April to 1 September 2024: works shown, catalogue, the artist's statement on 'the suspension of boundaries'. serpentinegalleries.org/whats-on/...
  15. 15Museum der Moderne Salzburg, 'I consider myself a poetic artist' (art story with film): 'Yinka Shonibare CBE. End of Empire', Moenchsberg, 22 May to 3 October 2021, curator Marijana Schneider, director Thorsten Sadowsky. museumdermoderne.at/en/...
  16. 16Brooklyn Museum, 'Yinka Shonibare MBE', 26 June to 20 September 2009: 'a major midcareer survey', organised and toured by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, curated by Rachel Kent; site-specific Mother and Father Worked Hard So I Can Play in the period rooms; Newark Museum commission 1 July 2009 to 3 January 2010. Read in the browser after a 403/429 bot block. brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/...
  17. 17Smithsonian Institution news release SI-487-2009, 3 November 2009, 'National Museum of African Art Presents Yinka Shonibare MBE': 10 November 2009 to 7 March 2010, 21 works, 'mid-career retrospective', the museum's own Black Gold I (2006), MBE 2005, honourable mention Venice 2001, the artist's quotation on 'the artificial construct of culture'. Read in the browser after a 403 bot block. si.edu/newsdesk/...
  18. 18documenta archive, documenta 11, Kassel, 8 June to 15 September 2002, artistic director Okwui Enwezor; Shonibare in the artist list. documenta.de/en/...
  19. 19Yinka Shonibare studio website, exhibition records with dates: Nigeria Imaginary, Nigerian Pavilion, 60th Venice Biennale, 20 April to 24 November 2024 (Monument to the Restitution of the Mind and Soul, clay replicas of 153 objects taken from Benin City in 1897); Sharjah Biennial 15, 7 February to 11 June 2023 (Decolonised Structures); Safiotra [Hybridites/Hybridities], Fondation H, Antananarivo, 11 April 2025 to 28 February 2026; End of Empire, Turner Contemporary, 22 March to 30 October 2016; Magic Ladders, Barnes Foundation, 23 January to 20 April 2014; FABRIC-ATION, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 2 March to 1 September 2013 (over 30 works, two Wind Sculptures); Entangled Pasts, Royal Academy, 3 February to 28 April 2024; Unravel, Barbican, 13 February to 26 May 2024; The British Library, Brighton, 3 to 25 May 2014; Cowboy Angels, British Museum, 19 July to 1 September 2019; Royal Museums Greenwich solo 18 September 2013 to 23 February 2014; Hibiscus Rising maquette show, The Tetley, Leeds, 11 September 2022 to 8 January 2023. yinkashonibare.com/exhibitions
  20. 20Phillips, artist page 'Yinka Shonibare CBE RA: Works for Sale, Upcoming Auctions & Past Results' and the 19 linked lot pages (fetched 2026-09-16): sale titles, dates, estimates and 'Sold For' figures (which at Phillips include buyer's premium), unsold lots, media and edition notes. phillips.com/artist/...
  21. 21Christie's, lot 206, sale 15474, Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Auction, London, 7 March 2018: Girl Balancing Knowledge (2015), fibreglass mannequin, Dutch wax cotton textile, books, globe and steel baseplate; estimate GBP 70,000-90,000; price realised GBP 236,750 (premium included); consigned for the charity Syri-Arts, 'Donated by the artist, courtesy Stephen Friedman Gallery and Pearl Lam Galleries'; Artist's Resale Right applies, paid to 'the artist's collection agent'. christies.com/en/...
  22. 22Christie's, lot 195, sale 14438, Post War & Contemporary Art Day Auction, London, 8 March 2017: Boy Balancing Knowledge II (2016); estimate GBP 50,000-70,000; realised GBP 137,000 (premium included); 'Donated by the artist, Courtesy of James Cohan, New York and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London'. christies.com/en/...
  23. 23Christie's, lot 19, sale 2638, Evening Sale of Works from the Peter Norton Collection, New York, 8 November 2011: Hound (2000), eight elements, mannequins, fibreglass, Dutch wax printed fabric, leather, rubber, plastic, glass and metal; estimate USD 150,000-200,000; realised USD 194,500 (premium included); provenance Stephen Friedman Gallery, acquired 2000; literature list including J. Fisher, Artforum, September 2000. christies.com/en/...
  24. 24Christie's, lot 316, sale 20267, Post-War to Present, New York, 10 March 2022: Plaything (1996-1997), acrylic on printed fabric in thirty parts; estimate USD 100,000-150,000; realised USD 176,400 (premium included); provenance Stephen Friedman Gallery 1997; exhibited Art Gallery of Ontario 1997, Israel Museum/Kiasma/PAC Milan 2002-2003; the artist's quotation on 'the received stereotypes of my background'. christies.com/en/...
  25. 25Christie's, lot 313, sale 23102, Post-War to Present, New York, 1 October 2024: The Age of Enlightenment - Gabrielle Emilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise du Chatelet (2008), fibreglass sculpture, wood, Dutch wax fabric and mixed media; estimate USD 70,000-100,000; realised USD 157,500 (premium included); provenance James Cohan Gallery 2008; exhibited Barnes Foundation 2014. Same sale, lot 314, Dorian Gray (2001), 12 parts, edition 3/5 + 2 AP, realised USD 44,100. christies.com/en/...
  26. 26Christie's, lot 881, sale 14997, Post-War & Contemporary Art Afternoon Session, New York, 16 November 2017: Un Ballo in Maschera (I-X), 2004-2005, giclee prints in artist's frames, edition 2/10; realised USD 75,000 (premium included); 'Further details: This work is eligible for a certificate of authenticity'; the artist's 2005 BOMB interview quoted. Also fetched: lot 9, First Open, New York, 8 March 2013, Girl on Globe (2012), realised USD 122,500, 'Gift of the artist; courtesy James Cohan Gallery'; lot 522, 16 May 2013, Gallantry and Criminal Conversation (Threesome) (2002), realised USD 99,750, exhibited documenta 11; lot 25, 7 March 2012, Victorian Philanthropist's Parlour (1996-1997), estimate USD 120,000-180,000, realised USD 98,500; lot 376, 29 September 2023, Ballerina with Violin, Swan Lake (2013), estimate USD 120,000-180,000, realised USD 100,800; lot 541, London, 16 October 2007, Dressing Down (1997), realised GBP 36,500. christies.com/en/...
  27. 27Sotheby's, slideshow '10 Memorable Moments from a Historic Week' (May 2017): 'The British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare MBE's Crash Willy sold for GBP 224,750, a new world record at auction for the artist', in the inaugural Modern and Contemporary African Art sale, London, 16 May 2017, sale total GBP 2.8 million. Lot page L17801 lot 106: Crash Willy (2009), unique, mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton textile, leather, fibreglass and metal, 132 x 198 x 260 cm, estimate GBP 120,000-180,000, provenance Stephen Friedman Gallery; exhibited Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2010 (Charles Wollaston Award). sothebys.com/en/...
  28. 28Sotheby's, Modern & Contemporary African Art and CCA Lagos Benefit Auction, March 2022, lot 2: Modern Magic (2021), patchwork, applique, embroidery and Dutch wax printed cotton textile, 140 x 100 cm, estimate GBP 50,000-70,000, 'Donated by the artist', closed unsold on 22 March 2022; 'We are grateful to Shonibare Studio for their assistance in cataloguing this lot.' sothebys.com/en/...
  29. 29Royal Academy of Arts, Fiona Maddocks, 'In the studio with Yinka Shonibare RA', RA Magazine, Spring 2016, published online 29 February 2016: the Regent's Canal studio in Hackney bought in 2008 (a former carpet warehouse), the team of three, the collaborators (sculptors, costumiers, photographers, printmakers), the home studio in Bow, the illness three weeks into the Wimbledon foundation course, the proposal box and month-long residencies, Saatchi and Sensation 1997, RA election 2013; quotations. Read in the browser after a Cloudflare challenge blocked curl and WebFetch. royalacademy.org.uk/article/...
  30. 30Art UK, Lydia Figes, 'On sculpture, elitism and Brexit: the art of Yinka Shonibare' (2019, the year he was Art UK's Patron): the headless figures begun as 'a joke about the French Revolution' and stopped when terrorist attacks became frequent; the globe head; 'How can I bring something from Brixton market into the gallery?'; Said and Derrida; the Fourth Plinth 'divided opinion'; rights line 'All rights reserved, 2026 DACS'; holdings at the Royal Academy (Cheeky Little Astronomer, 2013), Bradford Museums (Untitled (Dollhouse), 2002), Government Art Collection (Nelson's Ship in a Bottle, 2009), Arts Council Collection (Line Painting, 2003) and the Foundling Museum (Trumpet Boy, 2010). Read in the browser after a 403. artuk.org/discover/...
  31. 31Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, press release (Waltham, December 2025): 'Yinka Shonibare: Sanctuary', 11 February 2026 to 3 January 2027, the US debut of Sanctuary City (2024), 18 miniature buildings in wood, paint, Dutch wax printed cotton textile and LED lights, lent by the Tia Collection; organised by Gannit Ankori; supported by James Cohan Gallery and Goodman Gallery; the artist's quotations on sanctuary. brandeis.edu/rose/...
  32. 32Mennour, Paris, artist page 'Yinka Shonibare': listed among the gallery's represented artists; first solo exhibition 'The Wind, the Earth and the Fire', 13 October to 28 November 2026, 5 rue du Pont de Lodi. mennour.com/artist/...
  33. 33Artsy, Katherine McGrath, 'Stephen Friedman Gallery closes its London space and ceases operations after 30 years', 5 February 2026: reports that the gallery has ceased operations, quoting the gallery's statement that it 'is now closed to the public'; the gallery opened in 1995 and had 'long been known for championing and developing the careers of artists including Kehinde Wiley, Yinka Shonibare, and David Shrigley'. Read in the browser after a 403. artsy.net/article/...
  34. 34The Art Newspaper, 'James Cohan Gallery becomes Norr Cohan as founders step back', 15 July 2026: David Norr assumed sole ownership; the gallery 'has helped shape the careers of artists including Fred Tomaselli, Yinka Shonibare, Robert Smithson and Kennedy Yanko'. theartnewspaper.com/2026/...
  35. 35Goodman Gallery, artist page 'Yinka Shonibare': represented artist; biography; the Yinka Shonibare Foundation 'established in 2019 ... a UK registered charity'; G.A.S. Foundation across Lagos and Ijebu; 2026 presentations at Mount Nelson, Cape Town (13 February to 31 December 2026) and Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc (20 April to 18 October 2026). goodman-gallery.com/artists/...
  36. 36Cristea Roberts Gallery, artist page 'Yinka Shonibare': 'Cristea Roberts Gallery is the exclusive worldwide representative for Yinka Shonibare's original prints'; print editions of 15 to 60 (African Bird Magic, African Flower Magic, Modern Magic, Modern Spiritual series); biography. cristearoberts.com/artists/...
  37. 37The London Gazette, Supplement 62507, 28 December 2018 (New Year Honours 2019), Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, notice 3176402: 'C.B.E. To be Ordinary Commanders of the Civil Division ... Yinka SHONIBARE, M.B.E., Artist. For services to Art.' thegazette.co.uk/notice/...
  38. 38Art Fund, 'Nelson's Ship in a Bottle', Art Funded 2012: the appeal 'to acquire and permanently display this work outside the new Sammy Ofer Wing'; Art Fund grant GBP 50,000; GBP 251,677 raised through the public campaign 'mostly from individuals'; total cost GBP 650,000; commissioned by the Greater London Authority in 2009 for the Fourth Plinth; medium 'Sustainably sourced wood, other hardwoods, brass, textiles, acrylic (PMMA), LED lighting and ventilation system'; 300 x 535 x 250 cm. artfund.org/our-purpose/...
  39. 39Art Institute of Chicago collection API (api.artic.edu), fetched 2026-09-16: Feather Pink, 1997, acrylic paint on fabric, Gift of The Peter Norton Family Foundation, 1998.352; Big Boy, 2002, wax-printed cotton fabric, fiberglass, Gift of Susan and Lewis Manilow, 2004.759; neither on view. api.artic.edu/api/...
  40. 40Victoria and Albert Museum collections API, records E.235-2013 (Diary of a Victorian Dandy: 11.00 hours, photographed 1998, printed 2012, C-type print, 'Purchased with the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Photographs Acquisition Group', acquired through the Staying Power project with Black Cultural Archives) and E.161-2009 (Climate Shit Drawing 1, 2008, four-colour lithograph with silkscreen glaze, collage with fabric and foils, 'from his first print edition'). collections.vam.ac.uk/item/...
  41. 41Prestel Publishing, 'Yinka Shonibare MBE (revised and updated edition)', ed. Rachel Kent, with Anthony Downey and Robert Hobbs, hardcover, 240 pages, 175 colour illustrations, ISBN 978-3-7913-4872-8, UK 16 December 2013 / US 13 January 2014, GBP 35; a revised edition of the 2008 catalogue of the MCA Sydney survey. prestelpublishing.penguinrandomhouse.de/book/...
  42. 42Museum der Moderne Salzburg shop, catalogue 'Yinka Shonibare CBE: End of Empire', ed. Thorsten Sadowsky, texts by Sadowsky, Marijana Schneider and Antwaun Sargent, 'Paul Gilroy in conversation with Yinka Shonibare CBE', Hirmer Verlag, Munich, 2021, German-English, 216 pages, ISBN 978-3-7774-3589-3. shop.museumdermoderne.at/products/...
  43. 43Yinka Shonibare studio website, Bibliography: monographs and catalogues (Kent 2008 and 2014; Coulson and Lilley, FABRIC-ATION, 2013; Matt, Double Dutch, NAi 2004; Landau and Fisher, Double Dress, Israel Museum 2002; Sadowsky and Schneider 2021) and articles (Enwezor, Flash Art and Nka 1997; Downey, BOMB 2005 and Wasafiri 2004; Hynes and Picton, African Arts 2001; Guha, Third Text 1994). yinkashonibare.com/bibliography
  44. 44Yinka Shonibare Foundation website: established 2019 by the artist, UK registered charity number 1183321; residencies, Guest Projects Digital, Re:assemblages, Critical Writing Workshops; the G.A.S. Farm House in Ijebu; the artist's statement on food security. yinkashonibarefoundation.com
  45. 45Yinka Shonibare studio website, News: 'Yinka Shonibare CBE's G.A.S. Foundation Launches in Nigeria' (Oniru building designed by Elsie Owusu with Nihinlola Shonibare; Ijebu Ecology Green Farm, building by Papa Omotayo); 'BBC World Service: In the Studio' (54-acre farm, 40,000 hand-made bricks); 'Yinka Shonibare CBE to Create New Sculpture for Leeds' (DOMA commission, maquette 2021, the artist's quotation 'It is an honour to have been asked ...'); 'Hibiscus Rising Unveiling for Leeds 2023' ('a major permanent public artwork', 10 m, maquette 85 x 85 x 204 cm); 'Whitechapel Gallery Art Icon Award 2021' (22 March 2021, the eighth recipient); 'The Yinka Shonibare Room and Thesis Scholarship' (Stockholm School of Economics). yinkashonibare.com/news
  46. 46Open Arts Archive (The Open University), Clare Taylor, 'Yinka Shonibare, Nelson's Ship in a Bottle', transcript: the fans in the wooden stand against condensation, the wax seal with the initials YS MBE 'as a form of his signature', the two sail patterns including an anchor 'memory cloth', the sails set for a light wind as at Trafalgar, the seventh artist on the Fourth Plinth in 2010, the acquisition by the National Maritime Museum. openartsarchive.org/sites/...
  47. 47Wikimedia Commons file pages and API extmetadata (LicenseShortName, Artist, Credit) for the six work plates and the portrait, fetched 2026-09-16; the six work plates carry {{self}}, {{Geograph from structured data}} or a passed FlickreviewR template; the portrait carries a passed FlickreviewR and {{FoP-UK}}. commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/...
  48. 48British Museum collection record 2018,7037.2.1, Cowboy Angel I (read in the browser after a 403): 'Purchased from: Alan Cristea', 'Funded by: Rootstein Hopkins Foundation'; the set of five is 2018,7037.2.1-5, so the purchase was registered in 2018, the year before the museum's Cowboy Angels display. britishmuseum.org/collection/...
  49. 49The London Gazette, Supplement No. 1 to No. 57509, Friday 31 December 2004 (New Year Honours 2005), page N22, M.B.E. list: 'Yinka Shonibare. For services to Art.' (page PDF read with pdftotext). thegazette.co.uk/London/...
  50. 50Museum der Moderne Salzburg, exhibition page 'Yinka Shonibare CBE. End of Empire', Moenchsberg, 22 May to 3 October 2021, curators Thorsten Sadowsky and Marijana Schneider: 'The major solo exhibition gathers some sixty works from the past thirty years.' museumdermoderne.at/en/...
  51. 51Mediorite, 'Yinka Shonibare's Wind Sculpture at Howick Place', project film page: the sculpture 'is unveiled to the general public as part of Howick Place in Victoria, London'; an image caption reads 'An interview with Nigel Schofield from Mdm who talks about how he is fabricating the sculpture for Yinka Shonibare in his warehouse.' mediorite.co.uk/projects/...
  52. 52Norr Cohan (formerly James Cohan Gallery), artist page 'Yinka Shonibare': listed among the gallery's artists; solo exhibitions at the gallery from Mobility (2005) to Behind the Bedroom Door and All About 25 (2025); no representation start date stated. jamescohan.com/artists/...
  53. 53Yinka Shonibare studio website, artwork record 'Wind Sculpture in Bronze I, 2022': bronze, lacquer, concrete, 200 x 137 x 147 cm, Royal Djurgarden Sculpture Park, Stockholm; rights line 'All Rights Reserved, DACS / Artimage'. yinkashonibare.com/artwork/...
  54. 54Museums Association, Museums Journal, 'President intervenes to resolve row over Museum of West African Art', 20 November 2025: the museum called postponing its opening a 'difficult but necessary decision' and cited 'misconceptions about Mowaa's vision and role within Benin City's cultural landscape'; the flagship exhibition Nigeria Imaginary: Homecoming, with Shonibare's Monument to the Restitution of the Mind and Soul as a centrepiece (the article counts 150 clay replicas), was postponed with all opening activities; the museum remained closed to the public. museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/...
  55. 55Sotheby's, Modern and Contemporary African Art, London, 16 May 2017, sale L17801, lot 106: Crash Willy, 'Conceived in 2009, this work is unique', mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton textile, leather, fibreglass and metal, 132 by 198 by 260 cm, estimate GBP 120,000-180,000, provenance Stephen Friedman Gallery, exhibited Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2010 (Charles Wollaston Award for Most Distinguished Work); the price realised is behind a login on the lot page and is taken from source 27. sothebys.com/en/...
  56. 56Yinka Shonibare studio website, artwork records 'Wind Sculpture IV, 2014' and 'Wind Sculpture V, 2014': steel armature with hand painted fiberglass resin cast, 610 x 340 x 80 cm, 'Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 16 June - October 2014'; the studio's page for the MCA Chicago Plaza Project (16 June to 10 November 2014) says the installation included three Wind Sculptures. yinkashonibare.com/artwork/...
  57. 57Yale Center for British Art, library catalogue record for Yinka Shonibare MBE, ed. Rachel Kent, Prestel, London and New York, 2014: contents 'Time and Transformation in the Art of Yinka Shonibare MBE' (Kent), 'Yinka Shonibare MBE: The Politics of Representation' (Robert Hobbs) and 'Setting the Stage' (Shonibare in conversation with Anthony Downey); 'a revised and expanded version of a catalogue published in 2008 on the occasion of the exhibition Yinka Shonibare MBE, organized and toured by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney'. collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/...
Cite this pageIconotheca, “Yinka Shonibare”, The Provenance Record, iconotheca.com/artists/yinka-shonibare/, version of 16 September 2026.

Last verified 16 September 2026

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