Displaying items by tag: David Bowie

Though musician and cultural icon David Bowie kept his life as an art collector almost entirely a secret, the lesser-known side of his life will be revealed when hundreds of pieces from his personal collection are staged in an exhibition and auction entitled “Bowie/Collector” at Sotheby’s next month. The three-part sale on November 10 and 11 will encompass over 350 works, including a 'spin' painting Bowie created in collaboration with Damien Hirst, an altarpiece by Renaissance master Tintoretto, works by 20th Century British Masters, and more. These pieces have been published in a catalogue, and images are displayed online to give the public a sneak-peek.

The "David Bowie Is” exhibition broke the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s attendance record with more than 193,000 people visiting in its 15-week run.

“David Bowie Is” is the most successful exhibition in the MCA’s 47-year history, with some Bowie-related programs and performances selling out in less than an hour as well as the highest sales for the MCA Store.

Haunting portrait photographs, including a swan-necked David Bowie photographed in 1978, the playwright Nell Dunn looking startlingly like a long-lost Bowie twin, and Vita Sackville-West, the writer, gardener and former lover of Virginia Woolf who was still formidable in the year before her death in 1962, have been donated to the National Portrait Gallery by the society photographer Lord Snowdon.

The gift of 130 original prints, including photographs of his former in-laws from the years he was married to Princess Margaret, is one of the largest ever to the gallery

From his very early years as Davie Jones and the King Bees, through his glam-rock transformation into Ziggy Stardust, his coke-fueled exploits as The Thin White Duke, and even the disastrous Tin Machine period, David Bowie has long held a deep fascination with and appreciation for the visual and performing arts. And this summer, The Museum of Arts and Design will be highlighting Bowie's cinematic achievements with a new audio-visual retrospective: David Bowie, Artist.

The exhibit, which opens on May 9, will showcase the "too-often overlooked diversity and multifaceted nature of Bowie’s total artistic output," with a particular focus on his acting career. Eight of his major films will be shown throughout the two-month event, showcasing roles that span a humanoid alien in The Man Who Fell To Earth, a goblin king in Labyrinth, a vampire in The Hunger, a British officer in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, Pontius Pilate in The Last Temptation of Christ, and Andy Warhol in Basquiat. Rounding out the movies will also be screenings of The Linguini Incident, a "lost" rom-com starring him and Rosanna Arquette, as well as his seminal 1973 tour film Ziggy Stardust.