David Bowie. Image Courtesy of Sotheby’s, Photo by Gavin Evans
Ever since David Bowie attended art school his passion for art has had an evident influence in his career and development. Bowie has always been very vocal about his interest in art but it wasn’t until an interview with The New York Times that he explained exactly how much of an impact art had had in his life. Bowie said: “art was, seriously, the only thing I’d ever wanted to own. It has always been for me a stable nourishment.” Bowie was in fact an art connoisseur with well-formed opinions about artists and their works. “Art should be enough for me to develop my own dialogue with it,” he once said, and with this in mind he collected around 400 artworks by renowned artists like Henry Moore, Damien Hirst, Marcel Duchamp, Frank Auerbach and Jean-Michel Basquiat, and also outsider, surreal and contemporary African art.
A spokesperson for Bowie’s estate said: “though his family are keeping certain pieces of particular significance, it is now time to give others the opportunity to appreciate — and acquire — the art and objects he so admired.” As a result, the art that once inspired Bowie in times of creative struggle, will tour the world before being auctioned at Sotheby’s. The tour will allow art collectors, historians and fans alike the chance to preview, examine, and enjoy Bowie’s meticulously selected collection, which will also be the world’s first insight into the rockstar’s hidden facet. The works will be displayed in London, Los Angeles, New York and Hong Kong before the whole collection goes on display again at Sotheby’s.
Left: “Air Power”, 1984 by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Right: “Beautiful, Shattering, Slashing, Violent, Pinky, Hacking, Sphincter Painting”, 1995 by Damien Hirst
Left: “Brionvega Radiophotograph, model no RR 126″, 1965 by Pier Giacomo and Achille Castiglione. Right:”Casablanca” Sideboard, 1981 by Ettore Sottsass
Preview World Tour
London 20 July – 9 August
Los Angeles 20 – 21 September
New York 26 – 29 September
Hong Kong 12 – 15 October
The Exhibition
“Bowie/Collector” 1 – 10 November at Sotheby’s New Bond Street, London
Revealed for the first time ever, the collection includes artworks by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Damien Hirst and Marcel Duchamp