The Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography in Moscow hosts the photographic exposition titled “David Bowie. The Man Who Fell to Earth” dedicated to the legendary musician and artist. The rock star’s photos presented at the exhibition were made by Steve Shapiro – one of the world’s most famous photographers. At the show visitors will find pictures of the joint performance of Bowie and Cher on the TV program “The Cher Show,” the footage from the filming of renowned sci-fi movie “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” where the musician played a major role, and, most importantly, the results of a 12-hour photo shoot, made in Los Angeles in 1974.

Photo credit: Fahey/Klein Gallery/faheykleingallery.com

By the time of their meeting, Bowie and Shapiro both had become famous. The American photographer has already taken canonical portraits of Jacqueline Kennedy, Barbra Streisand, Mohammed Ali, Andy Warhol and was the first reporter to appear at the scene of the murder of Martin Luther King. By that moment, David Bowie already experienced real success. His single “Space Oddity” reached the top five UK hits in 1969. The album “The Man Who Sold the World,” which would later become iconic, was soon released, and the next album, “Aladdin Sane,” became the number one in the UK. In 1974, Bowie made his first tour of the United States, where he got acquainted with Shapiro.

Photo credit: Fahey/Klein Gallery/faheykleingallery.com

The 1970s were the years of image-seeking for Bowie since the art of fashion would always be an essential part of his life. The artist, like a true chameleon, over the years, has tried on many images on stage. Beautiful androgynous, space rock guru Ziggy Stardust, dressed in futuristic costumes by Kansai Yamamoto, The Thin White Duke, similar to the main character of the movie “The Man Who Fell to Earth” – a multi-faceted Bowie became a cult hero of the rock scene primarily due to the ability to reincarnate. The photographic exposition held in Moscow’s famous art gallery features the brightest moments of the artist’s career.

Photo credit: Fahey/Klein Gallery/faheykleingallery.com

For twelve hours of Los Angeles shooting Bowie also tried on a lot of masks, experimenting casually during the process. The story of how he took of an assistant photographer’s simple blue suit and painted it with stripes of white paint, and then used it in the video for “Lazarus” went down in history. By the way, the picture of a musician dressed in this suit is presented at this photographic exposition.

Photo credit: Fahey/Klein Gallery/faheykleingallery.com

However, perhaps the most acute image was the sad clown Buster Keaton, whom Bowie “played” almost without makeup. The musician later used some of the footage from this project for his albums covers – “Station to Station,” “Low” and “Nothing Has Changed,” – as well as for the covers of world-known “People” and “Rolling Stone” magazines. The same footage is also featured in the photographic exposition at The Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography in Moscow.

Any interested art connoisseur can visit “David Bowie. The Man Who Fell to Earth” photo exhibition from 11.01.2019 to 31.03.2019.