Diary of a Victorian Dandy: 19.00 hours (1998)

Yinka Shonibare

C-type print

Classification:

Photograph

Materials:

C-type photographic print

Physical Object Description:

A framed colour photograph of a group of eleven people in the music room of a stately home. The central figure is holding a wooden cane. To the left of the image, a man is seated playing a piano. Some members of the party appear to be singing.

Dimensions:

122 x 183 cm

Credit:

Purchased by the Contemporary Art Society Special Collection Scheme on behalf of The New Art Gallery Walsall with funds from the Arts Council Lottery, 1999

Scheme:

Special Collection Scheme (1997-2004): Fine Art

Ownership history:

Purchased from Stephen Friedman Gallery, London by the Contemporary Art Society through its Special Collection Scheme, with Lottery funding from Arts Council England, 13 February 1999; presented to MIMA (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art), Teeside University, 1998/99

Relationship:

Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, New York The New Art Gallery Walsall

Subject:

Black (presence), Interiors, Colonialism, Diaspora

One of a series of five photographs, Shonibare plays the role of a dandy, an outsider who uses his flamboyance, wit and style to penetrate the highest levels of society. Loosely based on William Hogarth’s cycle of paintings and engravings A Rake’s Progress (1733), the photographs follow the dandy’s increasingly decadent activities throughout the day. As a playful comment on historic depictions of black people, Shonibare imagines himself as a central character in scenes set during the height of British colonial power.

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