Sarah Hewitt

2005

Yinka Shonibare English, born 1962

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About the Artwork

The Dutch wax-resist batik fabrics that Yinka Shonibare uses to craft historical costumes carry a complex colonial history. Developed in Holland during the mid-nineteenth century as an inexpensive manufactured alternative to Indonesian textiles, European traders marketed it to West Africa, and within a century, the boldly printed cotton became a sign of African identity. Out of cloth he describes as “cross-bred,” Shonibare tailored a traveling costume for Sarah Hewitt, named after one of the founders of the Cooper Hewitt Museum. She and her sister, Eleanor, toured Europe in the early 1880s. Shonibare’s choice to dress the figure in a textile with foreign implications plays with the idea of the “exotic other.” The mannequin teeters on seemingly unstable stilts, undermining her air of lofty superiority. She holds a lorgnette, but without a head she cannot see. Layering contradictory references to race and identity, Shonibare confronts the daunting legacy of colonialism for a post-colonial world. From Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 89 (2015)

Title Sarah Hewitt

Artwork Date 2005

Artist Yinka Shonibare

Life Dates born 1962

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. English

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Yoruba

Medium Fiberglass, dutch wax-printed cotton, leather, wood, and steel

Dimensions Overall: 150 × 45 1/2 × 48 inches (3 m 81 cm × 115.6 cm × 121.9 cm)

Classification Sculpture

Department Contemporary Art after 1950

Credit Museum purchase, W. Hawkins Ferry Fund, Friends of Modern Art Acquisition Fund, Janis and William Wetsman Foundation Fund, and funds from Lila and Gilbert B. Silverman, and Andrew L. and Gayle Shaw Camden Contemporary and Decorative Art Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 2006.147

Markings

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Provenance

(James Cohan Gallery, New York, New York, USA)

2006-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

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Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

Suggest Feedback

Published References

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We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Photo Courtesy the Artist and James Cohan Gallery, NY

Yinka Shonibare, Sarah Hewitt, 2005, fiberglass, Dutch wax-printed cotton, leather, wood, and steel. Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum purchase, W. Hawkins Ferry Fund, Friends of Modern Art Acquisition Fund, et al., 2006.147.