After the Vandamp;A museum purchased the rock star's archive, David Bowie fans will have an unprecedented look into his life, career, and legacy.
More than 80,000 letters, song lyrics, images, stage designs, trophy pictures, and costumes are part of the collection.
Additionally, it showcases a number of the musician's personal instruments, such as the Stylophone he used to create his breakthrough single Space Oddity in 1969.
The archive will be put on display in 2025 at a brand-new location in east London.
In the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the David Bowie Centre for the Study of Performing Arts will serve as a "sourcebook for the Bowies of tomorrow," according to Dr. Tristram Hunt, director of the V&A.
Kate Bailey, a senior curator who previously contributed to the museum's ground-breaking 2013 David Bowie Is exhibition, said of the gift, "It's an amazing gift.". exhibition.
"It covers every aspect of Bowie's career. There are priceless relics from his earliest days in the 1960s all the way up to [the 2013 album] The Next Day and beyond.
"I found it fascinating – the personal insights, the handwritten lyrics, the conversation with other creative practitioners about how a song is written, recorded, or handled as a video.
These are all very powerful and wealthy things. ".
Bowie's Ziggy Stardust costumes from 1972, created by Freddie Burretti, and the union jack coat Bowie and Alexander McQueen created for the 1997 Earthling album cover are other highlights.
The collection also includes Brian Eno's EMS synthesizer, which was utilized on Bowie's 1977 albums Low and Heroes, as well as illustrations of his "cut-up" lyric writing technique, which involved literally chopping up preexisting texts in order to create new meanings from the rearranged pieces.
The archive, according to Ms. Bailey, has been preserved with "fantastic care" and "meticulous" precision.
He valued these items and papers, and you get the impression that since he worked quickly, it was useful to park, gather, and store everything before moving on to the next character or undertaking. ".
The V's acquisition.
A representative for Bowie's estate stated in a press release that with his life's work now being included in the UK's national collections, he "takes his rightful place amongst many other cultural icons and artistic geniuses.".
The David Bowie Center for the Study of Performance - and the insider information that V. ".
"I think everyone will agree with me when I say that," continued guitarist and producer Nile Rodgers, who worked with Bowie on the 1983 album Let's Dance. if the V could only contain one artist.
day daycasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecase