Images(2)

Eleanor Hewitt

Artist Yinka Shonibare CBE (RA) British, born 1962

Date2005

MediumLifesize fiberglass mannequin, Dutch wax-printed cotton, wood, and steel

DimensionsH. 150 in. (381 cm)

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the North Carolina State Art Society (Robert F. Phifer Bequest)

Object number2011.2

On View

Not on view

Label TextThis headless representation of Eleanor Hewitt, daughter of a wealthy American industrialist known for traveling the world and collecting decorative and textile arts, towers above her surroundings. She is dressed in Dutch wax cloth, produced in the Netherlands but decorated with colorful patterns that made it popular across Africa starting in the nineteenth century. Today it is a symbol of Pan-African identity.

Here Shonibare indicates the global economic networks built on European colonialism and slavery and driven by Euro-American demand for cheap textiles and other goods. Eleanor Hewitt thus points to the complexity of international trade and identity construction.ProvenanceCreated London, 2005; collection of the artist; [James Cohan Gallery, New York] on loan to NCMA, 2010–2011; sold to NCMA, 2011.
Published ReferencesNorth Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection," (Raleigh, NC; North Carolina Museum of Art, 2024), illus. (color) 119.Exhibition HistoryNew York, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, "Yinka Shonibare Selects: Work from the Permanent Collection," October 7, 2005-September 24, 2006.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–October 9, 2023. Object Rights Statement

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