# Yinka Shonibare artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/yinka-shonibare/
Profile generated: 2026-05-31T12:47:00.000Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Nationality: British, Nigerian
- Movements: Contemporary art, Post-colonial art
- Common media: Sculpture (mannequin figures, mixed-media installations), Photography, Film and video, Dutch wax fabric (Ankara) as fine-art material, Painting

## About Yinka Shonibare

Yinka Shonibare (born 1962, London) is a British-Nigerian artist whose practice spans sculpture, photography, film, and installation. Raised in Nigeria and based in London, he studied at Byam Shaw School of Art and Goldsmiths in the late 1980s. Shonibare is recognised internationally for his use of brightly patterned Dutch wax fabric — a material with complex colonial trade origins — which he drapes over headless mannequins in Victorian dress, mounts as sails on model ships, and incorporates into wall-based works. Recurring themes in his practice include the legacies of empire, the construction of cultural identity, and the ironies of global exchange. His work is held in major public collections including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Tate in London. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to the arts.

## Common works and media

Shonibare's auction and appraisal profile includes headless mannequin figures dressed in Dutch wax fabric period costumes, model ships with patterned fabric sails, photographic series, video installations, fabric-covered globes, and wall-based paintings on or incorporating Ankara textile. Editioned prints and photographs are the most frequently traded works. Unique mixed-media sculptures and large installations appear less often but carry greater institutional significance.

## Market and appraisal context

Shonibare's work appears regularly at major auction houses and is held by leading museum collections worldwide, which supports strong market visibility. Collectors most frequently encounter his editioned prints, photographic works, and smaller-scale sculptures at auction, though large-scale installations and public commissions such as Nelson's Ship in a Bottle (2010) represent the most institutionally significant category of his output. Factors affecting appraisal include medium, scale, date of execution, provenance (especially museum exhibition history), edition size for prints and photographs, and the physical condition of the fabric elements that are integral to many pieces.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine independently researched artist identity data with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realised prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. This page draws on authority files (Getty ULAN, VIAF, Library of Congress, RKD), museum collection records (MoMA, Tate), and biographical sources. Market observations are general and should not be treated as formal appraisals or price guarantees.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4526104
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yinka_Shonibare
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500057413
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/84135698/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2002053039
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/24869
- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/yinka-shonibare-cbe-3081
- RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History): https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/135054