The Art of a Yoruba Trickster

At his mid-career retrospective at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art, the London-born, Lagos-raised Yinka Shonibare MBE plays both sides of the colonial coin.

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  1 of 14

  19th Century Kid (Queen Victoria)

  Fiberglass figure, Dutch wax printed cotton, wooden table

  National Museum of African Art, Museum Purchase with funds given in memory of Philip L. Ravenhill, the Silvia H. Williams Memorial Fund for Acquisitions, Frieda B. Rosenthal, Barbara Croissant and Mark E. Baker

  NATALIE HOPKINSON: How the Empire Strikes Black [11]

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  2 of 14

  Black Gold I

  Acrylic paint on wall, acrylic on 25 Dutch wax printed cotton canvases

  National Museum of African Art, Museum Purchase, 2008-2-1

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  3 of 14

  Diary of a Victorian Dandy

  Chromogenic photographs Edition 3 of 3

  Collections of Peter Norton and Eileen Harris Norton, Santa Monica, California

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  4 of 14

  Double Dutch

  Acrylic paint on wall, emulsion, and acrylic on 50 Dutch wax printed cotton canvases

  Private collection, USA

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  5 of 14

  Globe Children

  2 fiberglass mannequins, Dutch wax printed cotton, globe

  Private collection, Connecticut

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  6 of 14

  The Victorian Philanthropist’s Parlour

  Reproduction furniture, fire screen, carpet, props, stanchions, Dutch wax printed cotton

  Collections of Peter Norton and Eileen Harris Norton, Santa Monica, California

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  7 of 14

  Scramble for Africa

  14 life-size fiberglass mannequins, 14 chairs, table, Dutch wax printed cotton

  The Pinnell Collection, Dallas

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  8 of 14

  The Age of Enlightenment

  Life-size fiberglass mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton, mixed media

  Collection of Lidia Berlingieri Leopardi and Piervittorio Leopardi Dittajuti, Rome

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  9 of 14

  The Age of Enlightenment -- Adam Smith

  Life-size fiberglass mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton, mixed media

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  10 of 14

  The Swing (After Fragonard)

  Life-size fiberglass mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton textile, swing, artificial foliage

  Tate, Purchased 2001

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  11 of 14

  Odile and Odette

  High-definition digital video (color, sound, 14 min. 28 sec.)

  Edition 1 of 6

  Courtesy of the artist, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, and James Cohan Gallery, New York

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  12 of 14

  Un Ballo in Maschera (A Masked Ball)

  High-definition digital video (color, sound, 32 min.)

  Edition 1 of 6

  Courtesy of the artist, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, and James Cohan Gallery, New York

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  13 of 14

  Headless Man Trying to Drink

  Fiberglass mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton, polymer-gypsum fountain, water pump

  Collection of Melva Bucksbaum and Raymond Learsy, USA

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  14 of 14

  Yinka in Top Hat

  11 black-and-white photographs, 1 chromogenic photograph

  Edition 4 of 5

  Collection of Emily Fisher Landau, New York

  YINKA SHONIBARE: A Mid-Career Retrospective at the Smithsonian Museum [11]