Aladdin Sane at 50
With David Bowie's iconic album turning 50 this year, we take a look at The Southbank Centre's exhibition to mark the occasion
April 17, 2023
Released in 1973, Aladdin Sane was David Bowie’s greatest commercial success. Over 4.6 million copies of the album have been sold to date; but arguably, it is its imagery – the vision, rather than the sound - that has taken a stronger hold in the popular imagination. Dubbed the ’Mona Lisa of Pop’, it is the cover art that distinguished Bowie from his previous alias, Ziggy Stardust, and marked the separation from The Spiders.
50 Years is similarly rooted in history. We meet Bowie prepping for his tour in the US and Japan – his first performance in Hiroshima, 28 years after the city was struck by the atomic bomb. But the show doesn’t dwell on this history, nor suggests any two-way flows of influence, save for one (uncaptioned) print. Rather, we meet him fresh off the Trans-Siberian Railway back to London, as he waltzes onto the stage at Earls Court Arena, flaunting his new theatrical Kansai Yamamoto costumes.
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In a similar vein to Somerset House’s recent The Horror Show! A Twisted Tale of Modern Britain, it’s as much a social history as a pop cultural one. Sassy captions detail Britain in the 1970s, a place where the ‘average British man went straight from school to factory work, smoked heavily, holidayed in the UK and died at 68.’
The exhibition is diverse in medium; souvenir books, ‘designed for your further enjoyment of the show’, and B£10 notes, issued in Brixton in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. It’s another anachronistic nod to Bowie’s local history, shared by other recent histories of the artist, who dissociated himself from his South London upbringing.
Curated by Chris Duffy, the son of Bowie’s photographer Brian Duffy, it’s expectedly focussed on the art of the photography. There’s a wealth of proofs, contact prints, and archive materials, a delight for photography buffs and newbies alike. Francis Newman’s reworking for the back cover, dematerialising the image to a mere outline, offers a reminder of how much has changed over the course of the last half-century. Once laborious, the one-stop development process necessary to produce this image back cover could today be done in minutes with Photoshop.
From his early career at Vogue, Duffy produced portraits of everyone from Nina Simone to Harold Wilson. Many were depicted from his studio in Swiss Cottage, the other side of Bowie’s London; one subject to the ‘gentrifiers’ far sooner.
But rather than perpetuate a great man history of either artist, 50 Years pays great attention to the teams around them. Alongside self-/portraits, we see the faces of Francis Newman, Celia Philo, Pierre Laroche – Duffy’s creative team - sat in conversation with photographs of The Spiders, taken for the album’s inner gatefolds.
50 Years also explores the concept of originality. We learn how Bowie’s pose was borrowed from Jane Lumb, better known as June 1973 for the Pirelli Calendar. Multiple origin stories are suggested for the lightning flash. Was it borrowed from Elvis, with whom he shared a birthday, who was known for ‘taking care of business in a flash’? Or perhaps the National Panasonic Rice Cooker in Duffy’s studio, known for its red lightning flash logo, which was the world’s largest neon sign in 1970?
.jpg)
Aladdin Sane: 50 Years is on show at the Southbank Centre until 28 May 2023.
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
Released in 1973, Aladdin Sane was David Bowie’s greatest commercial success. Over 4.6 million copies of the album have been sold to date; but arguably, it is its imagery – the vision, rather than the sound - that has taken a stronger hold in the popular imagination. Dubbed the ’Mona Lisa of Pop’, it is the cover art that distinguished Bowie from his previous alias, Ziggy Stardust, and marked the separation from The Spiders.
50 Years is similarly rooted in history. We meet Bowie prepping for his tour in the US and Japan – his first performance in Hiroshima, 28 years after the city was struck by the atomic bomb. But the show doesn’t dwell on this history, nor suggests any two-way flows of influence, save for one (uncaptioned) print. Rather, we meet him fresh off the Trans-Siberian Railway back to London, as he waltzes onto the stage at Earls Court Arena, flaunting his new theatrical Kansai Yamamoto costumes.
In a similar vein to Somerset House’s recent The Horror Show! A Twisted Tale of Modern Britain, it’s as much a social history as a pop cultural one. Sassy captions detail Britain in the 1970s, a place where the ‘average British man went straight from school to factory work, smoked heavily, holidayed in the UK and died at 68.’
The exhibition is diverse in medium; souvenir books, ‘designed for your further enjoyment of the show’, and B£10 notes, issued in Brixton in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. It’s another anachronistic nod to Bowie’s local history, shared by other recent histories of the artist, who dissociated himself from his South London upbringing.
Curated by Chris Duffy, the son of Bowie’s photographer Brian Duffy, it’s expectedly focussed on the art of the photography. There’s a wealth of proofs, contact prints, and archive materials, a delight for photography buffs and newbies alike. Francis Newman’s reworking for the back cover, dematerialising the image to a mere outline, offers a reminder of how much has changed over the course of the last half-century. Once laborious, the one-stop development process necessary to produce this image back cover could today be done in minutes with Photoshop.
From his early career at Vogue, Duffy produced portraits of everyone from Nina Simone to Harold Wilson. Many were depicted from his studio in Swiss Cottage, the other side of Bowie’s London; one subject to the ‘gentrifiers’ far sooner.
But rather than perpetuate a great man history of either artist, 50 Years pays great attention to the teams around them. Alongside self-/portraits, we see the faces of Francis Newman, Celia Philo, Pierre Laroche – Duffy’s creative team - sat in conversation with photographs of The Spiders, taken for the album’s inner gatefolds.
50 Years also explores the concept of originality. We learn how Bowie’s pose was borrowed from Jane Lumb, better known as June 1973 for the Pirelli Calendar. Multiple origin stories are suggested for the lightning flash. Was it borrowed from Elvis, with whom he shared a birthday, who was known for ‘taking care of business in a flash’? Or perhaps the National Panasonic Rice Cooker in Duffy’s studio, known for its red lightning flash logo, which was the world’s largest neon sign in 1970?
Aladdin Sane: 50 Years is on show at the Southbank Centre until 28 May 2023.
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
Released in 1973, Aladdin Sane was David Bowie’s greatest commercial success. Over 4.6 million copies of the album have been sold to date; but arguably, it is its imagery – the vision, rather than the sound - that has taken a stronger hold in the popular imagination. Dubbed the ’Mona Lisa of Pop’, it is the cover art that distinguished Bowie from his previous alias, Ziggy Stardust, and marked the separation from The Spiders.
50 Years is similarly rooted in history. We meet Bowie prepping for his tour in the US and Japan – his first performance in Hiroshima, 28 years after the city was struck by the atomic bomb. But the show doesn’t dwell on this history, nor suggests any two-way flows of influence, save for one (uncaptioned) print. Rather, we meet him fresh off the Trans-Siberian Railway back to London, as he waltzes onto the stage at Earls Court Arena, flaunting his new theatrical Kansai Yamamoto costumes.
In a similar vein to Somerset House’s recent The Horror Show! A Twisted Tale of Modern Britain, it’s as much a social history as a pop cultural one. Sassy captions detail Britain in the 1970s, a place where the ‘average British man went straight from school to factory work, smoked heavily, holidayed in the UK and died at 68.’
The exhibition is diverse in medium; souvenir books, ‘designed for your further enjoyment of the show’, and B£10 notes, issued in Brixton in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. It’s another anachronistic nod to Bowie’s local history, shared by other recent histories of the artist, who dissociated himself from his South London upbringing.
Curated by Chris Duffy, the son of Bowie’s photographer Brian Duffy, it’s expectedly focussed on the art of the photography. There’s a wealth of proofs, contact prints, and archive materials, a delight for photography buffs and newbies alike. Francis Newman’s reworking for the back cover, dematerialising the image to a mere outline, offers a reminder of how much has changed over the course of the last half-century. Once laborious, the one-stop development process necessary to produce this image back cover could today be done in minutes with Photoshop.
From his early career at Vogue, Duffy produced portraits of everyone from Nina Simone to Harold Wilson. Many were depicted from his studio in Swiss Cottage, the other side of Bowie’s London; one subject to the ‘gentrifiers’ far sooner.
But rather than perpetuate a great man history of either artist, 50 Years pays great attention to the teams around them. Alongside self-/portraits, we see the faces of Francis Newman, Celia Philo, Pierre Laroche – Duffy’s creative team - sat in conversation with photographs of The Spiders, taken for the album’s inner gatefolds.
50 Years also explores the concept of originality. We learn how Bowie’s pose was borrowed from Jane Lumb, better known as June 1973 for the Pirelli Calendar. Multiple origin stories are suggested for the lightning flash. Was it borrowed from Elvis, with whom he shared a birthday, who was known for ‘taking care of business in a flash’? Or perhaps the National Panasonic Rice Cooker in Duffy’s studio, known for its red lightning flash logo, which was the world’s largest neon sign in 1970?
Aladdin Sane: 50 Years is on show at the Southbank Centre until 28 May 2023.
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
Released in 1973, Aladdin Sane was David Bowie’s greatest commercial success. Over 4.6 million copies of the album have been sold to date; but arguably, it is its imagery – the vision, rather than the sound - that has taken a stronger hold in the popular imagination. Dubbed the ’Mona Lisa of Pop’, it is the cover art that distinguished Bowie from his previous alias, Ziggy Stardust, and marked the separation from The Spiders.
50 Years is similarly rooted in history. We meet Bowie prepping for his tour in the US and Japan – his first performance in Hiroshima, 28 years after the city was struck by the atomic bomb. But the show doesn’t dwell on this history, nor suggests any two-way flows of influence, save for one (uncaptioned) print. Rather, we meet him fresh off the Trans-Siberian Railway back to London, as he waltzes onto the stage at Earls Court Arena, flaunting his new theatrical Kansai Yamamoto costumes.
In a similar vein to Somerset House’s recent The Horror Show! A Twisted Tale of Modern Britain, it’s as much a social history as a pop cultural one. Sassy captions detail Britain in the 1970s, a place where the ‘average British man went straight from school to factory work, smoked heavily, holidayed in the UK and died at 68.’
The exhibition is diverse in medium; souvenir books, ‘designed for your further enjoyment of the show’, and B£10 notes, issued in Brixton in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. It’s another anachronistic nod to Bowie’s local history, shared by other recent histories of the artist, who dissociated himself from his South London upbringing.
Curated by Chris Duffy, the son of Bowie’s photographer Brian Duffy, it’s expectedly focussed on the art of the photography. There’s a wealth of proofs, contact prints, and archive materials, a delight for photography buffs and newbies alike. Francis Newman’s reworking for the back cover, dematerialising the image to a mere outline, offers a reminder of how much has changed over the course of the last half-century. Once laborious, the one-stop development process necessary to produce this image back cover could today be done in minutes with Photoshop.
From his early career at Vogue, Duffy produced portraits of everyone from Nina Simone to Harold Wilson. Many were depicted from his studio in Swiss Cottage, the other side of Bowie’s London; one subject to the ‘gentrifiers’ far sooner.
But rather than perpetuate a great man history of either artist, 50 Years pays great attention to the teams around them. Alongside self-/portraits, we see the faces of Francis Newman, Celia Philo, Pierre Laroche – Duffy’s creative team - sat in conversation with photographs of The Spiders, taken for the album’s inner gatefolds.
50 Years also explores the concept of originality. We learn how Bowie’s pose was borrowed from Jane Lumb, better known as June 1973 for the Pirelli Calendar. Multiple origin stories are suggested for the lightning flash. Was it borrowed from Elvis, with whom he shared a birthday, who was known for ‘taking care of business in a flash’? Or perhaps the National Panasonic Rice Cooker in Duffy’s studio, known for its red lightning flash logo, which was the world’s largest neon sign in 1970?
Aladdin Sane: 50 Years is on show at the Southbank Centre until 28 May 2023.
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
Released in 1973, Aladdin Sane was David Bowie’s greatest commercial success. Over 4.6 million copies of the album have been sold to date; but arguably, it is its imagery – the vision, rather than the sound - that has taken a stronger hold in the popular imagination. Dubbed the ’Mona Lisa of Pop’, it is the cover art that distinguished Bowie from his previous alias, Ziggy Stardust, and marked the separation from The Spiders.
50 Years is similarly rooted in history. We meet Bowie prepping for his tour in the US and Japan – his first performance in Hiroshima, 28 years after the city was struck by the atomic bomb. But the show doesn’t dwell on this history, nor suggests any two-way flows of influence, save for one (uncaptioned) print. Rather, we meet him fresh off the Trans-Siberian Railway back to London, as he waltzes onto the stage at Earls Court Arena, flaunting his new theatrical Kansai Yamamoto costumes.
In a similar vein to Somerset House’s recent The Horror Show! A Twisted Tale of Modern Britain, it’s as much a social history as a pop cultural one. Sassy captions detail Britain in the 1970s, a place where the ‘average British man went straight from school to factory work, smoked heavily, holidayed in the UK and died at 68.’
The exhibition is diverse in medium; souvenir books, ‘designed for your further enjoyment of the show’, and B£10 notes, issued in Brixton in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. It’s another anachronistic nod to Bowie’s local history, shared by other recent histories of the artist, who dissociated himself from his South London upbringing.
Curated by Chris Duffy, the son of Bowie’s photographer Brian Duffy, it’s expectedly focussed on the art of the photography. There’s a wealth of proofs, contact prints, and archive materials, a delight for photography buffs and newbies alike. Francis Newman’s reworking for the back cover, dematerialising the image to a mere outline, offers a reminder of how much has changed over the course of the last half-century. Once laborious, the one-stop development process necessary to produce this image back cover could today be done in minutes with Photoshop.
From his early career at Vogue, Duffy produced portraits of everyone from Nina Simone to Harold Wilson. Many were depicted from his studio in Swiss Cottage, the other side of Bowie’s London; one subject to the ‘gentrifiers’ far sooner.
But rather than perpetuate a great man history of either artist, 50 Years pays great attention to the teams around them. Alongside self-/portraits, we see the faces of Francis Newman, Celia Philo, Pierre Laroche – Duffy’s creative team - sat in conversation with photographs of The Spiders, taken for the album’s inner gatefolds.
50 Years also explores the concept of originality. We learn how Bowie’s pose was borrowed from Jane Lumb, better known as June 1973 for the Pirelli Calendar. Multiple origin stories are suggested for the lightning flash. Was it borrowed from Elvis, with whom he shared a birthday, who was known for ‘taking care of business in a flash’? Or perhaps the National Panasonic Rice Cooker in Duffy’s studio, known for its red lightning flash logo, which was the world’s largest neon sign in 1970?
Aladdin Sane: 50 Years is on show at the Southbank Centre until 28 May 2023.
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
Released in 1973, Aladdin Sane was David Bowie’s greatest commercial success. Over 4.6 million copies of the album have been sold to date; but arguably, it is its imagery – the vision, rather than the sound - that has taken a stronger hold in the popular imagination. Dubbed the ’Mona Lisa of Pop’, it is the cover art that distinguished Bowie from his previous alias, Ziggy Stardust, and marked the separation from The Spiders.
50 Years is similarly rooted in history. We meet Bowie prepping for his tour in the US and Japan – his first performance in Hiroshima, 28 years after the city was struck by the atomic bomb. But the show doesn’t dwell on this history, nor suggests any two-way flows of influence, save for one (uncaptioned) print. Rather, we meet him fresh off the Trans-Siberian Railway back to London, as he waltzes onto the stage at Earls Court Arena, flaunting his new theatrical Kansai Yamamoto costumes.
In a similar vein to Somerset House’s recent The Horror Show! A Twisted Tale of Modern Britain, it’s as much a social history as a pop cultural one. Sassy captions detail Britain in the 1970s, a place where the ‘average British man went straight from school to factory work, smoked heavily, holidayed in the UK and died at 68.’
The exhibition is diverse in medium; souvenir books, ‘designed for your further enjoyment of the show’, and B£10 notes, issued in Brixton in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. It’s another anachronistic nod to Bowie’s local history, shared by other recent histories of the artist, who dissociated himself from his South London upbringing.
Curated by Chris Duffy, the son of Bowie’s photographer Brian Duffy, it’s expectedly focussed on the art of the photography. There’s a wealth of proofs, contact prints, and archive materials, a delight for photography buffs and newbies alike. Francis Newman’s reworking for the back cover, dematerialising the image to a mere outline, offers a reminder of how much has changed over the course of the last half-century. Once laborious, the one-stop development process necessary to produce this image back cover could today be done in minutes with Photoshop.
From his early career at Vogue, Duffy produced portraits of everyone from Nina Simone to Harold Wilson. Many were depicted from his studio in Swiss Cottage, the other side of Bowie’s London; one subject to the ‘gentrifiers’ far sooner.
But rather than perpetuate a great man history of either artist, 50 Years pays great attention to the teams around them. Alongside self-/portraits, we see the faces of Francis Newman, Celia Philo, Pierre Laroche – Duffy’s creative team - sat in conversation with photographs of The Spiders, taken for the album’s inner gatefolds.
50 Years also explores the concept of originality. We learn how Bowie’s pose was borrowed from Jane Lumb, better known as June 1973 for the Pirelli Calendar. Multiple origin stories are suggested for the lightning flash. Was it borrowed from Elvis, with whom he shared a birthday, who was known for ‘taking care of business in a flash’? Or perhaps the National Panasonic Rice Cooker in Duffy’s studio, known for its red lightning flash logo, which was the world’s largest neon sign in 1970?
Aladdin Sane: 50 Years is on show at the Southbank Centre until 28 May 2023.
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
Released in 1973, Aladdin Sane was David Bowie’s greatest commercial success. Over 4.6 million copies of the album have been sold to date; but arguably, it is its imagery – the vision, rather than the sound - that has taken a stronger hold in the popular imagination. Dubbed the ’Mona Lisa of Pop’, it is the cover art that distinguished Bowie from his previous alias, Ziggy Stardust, and marked the separation from The Spiders.
50 Years is similarly rooted in history. We meet Bowie prepping for his tour in the US and Japan – his first performance in Hiroshima, 28 years after the city was struck by the atomic bomb. But the show doesn’t dwell on this history, nor suggests any two-way flows of influence, save for one (uncaptioned) print. Rather, we meet him fresh off the Trans-Siberian Railway back to London, as he waltzes onto the stage at Earls Court Arena, flaunting his new theatrical Kansai Yamamoto costumes.
In a similar vein to Somerset House’s recent The Horror Show! A Twisted Tale of Modern Britain, it’s as much a social history as a pop cultural one. Sassy captions detail Britain in the 1970s, a place where the ‘average British man went straight from school to factory work, smoked heavily, holidayed in the UK and died at 68.’
The exhibition is diverse in medium; souvenir books, ‘designed for your further enjoyment of the show’, and B£10 notes, issued in Brixton in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. It’s another anachronistic nod to Bowie’s local history, shared by other recent histories of the artist, who dissociated himself from his South London upbringing.
Curated by Chris Duffy, the son of Bowie’s photographer Brian Duffy, it’s expectedly focussed on the art of the photography. There’s a wealth of proofs, contact prints, and archive materials, a delight for photography buffs and newbies alike. Francis Newman’s reworking for the back cover, dematerialising the image to a mere outline, offers a reminder of how much has changed over the course of the last half-century. Once laborious, the one-stop development process necessary to produce this image back cover could today be done in minutes with Photoshop.
From his early career at Vogue, Duffy produced portraits of everyone from Nina Simone to Harold Wilson. Many were depicted from his studio in Swiss Cottage, the other side of Bowie’s London; one subject to the ‘gentrifiers’ far sooner.
But rather than perpetuate a great man history of either artist, 50 Years pays great attention to the teams around them. Alongside self-/portraits, we see the faces of Francis Newman, Celia Philo, Pierre Laroche – Duffy’s creative team - sat in conversation with photographs of The Spiders, taken for the album’s inner gatefolds.
50 Years also explores the concept of originality. We learn how Bowie’s pose was borrowed from Jane Lumb, better known as June 1973 for the Pirelli Calendar. Multiple origin stories are suggested for the lightning flash. Was it borrowed from Elvis, with whom he shared a birthday, who was known for ‘taking care of business in a flash’? Or perhaps the National Panasonic Rice Cooker in Duffy’s studio, known for its red lightning flash logo, which was the world’s largest neon sign in 1970?
Aladdin Sane: 50 Years is on show at the Southbank Centre until 28 May 2023.
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
Released in 1973, Aladdin Sane was David Bowie’s greatest commercial success. Over 4.6 million copies of the album have been sold to date; but arguably, it is its imagery – the vision, rather than the sound - that has taken a stronger hold in the popular imagination. Dubbed the ’Mona Lisa of Pop’, it is the cover art that distinguished Bowie from his previous alias, Ziggy Stardust, and marked the separation from The Spiders.
50 Years is similarly rooted in history. We meet Bowie prepping for his tour in the US and Japan – his first performance in Hiroshima, 28 years after the city was struck by the atomic bomb. But the show doesn’t dwell on this history, nor suggests any two-way flows of influence, save for one (uncaptioned) print. Rather, we meet him fresh off the Trans-Siberian Railway back to London, as he waltzes onto the stage at Earls Court Arena, flaunting his new theatrical Kansai Yamamoto costumes.
In a similar vein to Somerset House’s recent The Horror Show! A Twisted Tale of Modern Britain, it’s as much a social history as a pop cultural one. Sassy captions detail Britain in the 1970s, a place where the ‘average British man went straight from school to factory work, smoked heavily, holidayed in the UK and died at 68.’
The exhibition is diverse in medium; souvenir books, ‘designed for your further enjoyment of the show’, and B£10 notes, issued in Brixton in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. It’s another anachronistic nod to Bowie’s local history, shared by other recent histories of the artist, who dissociated himself from his South London upbringing.
Curated by Chris Duffy, the son of Bowie’s photographer Brian Duffy, it’s expectedly focussed on the art of the photography. There’s a wealth of proofs, contact prints, and archive materials, a delight for photography buffs and newbies alike. Francis Newman’s reworking for the back cover, dematerialising the image to a mere outline, offers a reminder of how much has changed over the course of the last half-century. Once laborious, the one-stop development process necessary to produce this image back cover could today be done in minutes with Photoshop.
From his early career at Vogue, Duffy produced portraits of everyone from Nina Simone to Harold Wilson. Many were depicted from his studio in Swiss Cottage, the other side of Bowie’s London; one subject to the ‘gentrifiers’ far sooner.
But rather than perpetuate a great man history of either artist, 50 Years pays great attention to the teams around them. Alongside self-/portraits, we see the faces of Francis Newman, Celia Philo, Pierre Laroche – Duffy’s creative team - sat in conversation with photographs of The Spiders, taken for the album’s inner gatefolds.
50 Years also explores the concept of originality. We learn how Bowie’s pose was borrowed from Jane Lumb, better known as June 1973 for the Pirelli Calendar. Multiple origin stories are suggested for the lightning flash. Was it borrowed from Elvis, with whom he shared a birthday, who was known for ‘taking care of business in a flash’? Or perhaps the National Panasonic Rice Cooker in Duffy’s studio, known for its red lightning flash logo, which was the world’s largest neon sign in 1970?
Aladdin Sane: 50 Years is on show at the Southbank Centre until 28 May 2023.
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
Released in 1973, Aladdin Sane was David Bowie’s greatest commercial success. Over 4.6 million copies of the album have been sold to date; but arguably, it is its imagery – the vision, rather than the sound - that has taken a stronger hold in the popular imagination. Dubbed the ’Mona Lisa of Pop’, it is the cover art that distinguished Bowie from his previous alias, Ziggy Stardust, and marked the separation from The Spiders.
50 Years is similarly rooted in history. We meet Bowie prepping for his tour in the US and Japan – his first performance in Hiroshima, 28 years after the city was struck by the atomic bomb. But the show doesn’t dwell on this history, nor suggests any two-way flows of influence, save for one (uncaptioned) print. Rather, we meet him fresh off the Trans-Siberian Railway back to London, as he waltzes onto the stage at Earls Court Arena, flaunting his new theatrical Kansai Yamamoto costumes.
In a similar vein to Somerset House’s recent The Horror Show! A Twisted Tale of Modern Britain, it’s as much a social history as a pop cultural one. Sassy captions detail Britain in the 1970s, a place where the ‘average British man went straight from school to factory work, smoked heavily, holidayed in the UK and died at 68.’
The exhibition is diverse in medium; souvenir books, ‘designed for your further enjoyment of the show’, and B£10 notes, issued in Brixton in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. It’s another anachronistic nod to Bowie’s local history, shared by other recent histories of the artist, who dissociated himself from his South London upbringing.
Curated by Chris Duffy, the son of Bowie’s photographer Brian Duffy, it’s expectedly focussed on the art of the photography. There’s a wealth of proofs, contact prints, and archive materials, a delight for photography buffs and newbies alike. Francis Newman’s reworking for the back cover, dematerialising the image to a mere outline, offers a reminder of how much has changed over the course of the last half-century. Once laborious, the one-stop development process necessary to produce this image back cover could today be done in minutes with Photoshop.
From his early career at Vogue, Duffy produced portraits of everyone from Nina Simone to Harold Wilson. Many were depicted from his studio in Swiss Cottage, the other side of Bowie’s London; one subject to the ‘gentrifiers’ far sooner.
But rather than perpetuate a great man history of either artist, 50 Years pays great attention to the teams around them. Alongside self-/portraits, we see the faces of Francis Newman, Celia Philo, Pierre Laroche – Duffy’s creative team - sat in conversation with photographs of The Spiders, taken for the album’s inner gatefolds.
50 Years also explores the concept of originality. We learn how Bowie’s pose was borrowed from Jane Lumb, better known as June 1973 for the Pirelli Calendar. Multiple origin stories are suggested for the lightning flash. Was it borrowed from Elvis, with whom he shared a birthday, who was known for ‘taking care of business in a flash’? Or perhaps the National Panasonic Rice Cooker in Duffy’s studio, known for its red lightning flash logo, which was the world’s largest neon sign in 1970?
Aladdin Sane: 50 Years is on show at the Southbank Centre until 28 May 2023.
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
Released in 1973, Aladdin Sane was David Bowie’s greatest commercial success. Over 4.6 million copies of the album have been sold to date; but arguably, it is its imagery – the vision, rather than the sound - that has taken a stronger hold in the popular imagination. Dubbed the ’Mona Lisa of Pop’, it is the cover art that distinguished Bowie from his previous alias, Ziggy Stardust, and marked the separation from The Spiders.
50 Years is similarly rooted in history. We meet Bowie prepping for his tour in the US and Japan – his first performance in Hiroshima, 28 years after the city was struck by the atomic bomb. But the show doesn’t dwell on this history, nor suggests any two-way flows of influence, save for one (uncaptioned) print. Rather, we meet him fresh off the Trans-Siberian Railway back to London, as he waltzes onto the stage at Earls Court Arena, flaunting his new theatrical Kansai Yamamoto costumes.
In a similar vein to Somerset House’s recent The Horror Show! A Twisted Tale of Modern Britain, it’s as much a social history as a pop cultural one. Sassy captions detail Britain in the 1970s, a place where the ‘average British man went straight from school to factory work, smoked heavily, holidayed in the UK and died at 68.’
The exhibition is diverse in medium; souvenir books, ‘designed for your further enjoyment of the show’, and B£10 notes, issued in Brixton in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. It’s another anachronistic nod to Bowie’s local history, shared by other recent histories of the artist, who dissociated himself from his South London upbringing.
Curated by Chris Duffy, the son of Bowie’s photographer Brian Duffy, it’s expectedly focussed on the art of the photography. There’s a wealth of proofs, contact prints, and archive materials, a delight for photography buffs and newbies alike. Francis Newman’s reworking for the back cover, dematerialising the image to a mere outline, offers a reminder of how much has changed over the course of the last half-century. Once laborious, the one-stop development process necessary to produce this image back cover could today be done in minutes with Photoshop.
From his early career at Vogue, Duffy produced portraits of everyone from Nina Simone to Harold Wilson. Many were depicted from his studio in Swiss Cottage, the other side of Bowie’s London; one subject to the ‘gentrifiers’ far sooner.
But rather than perpetuate a great man history of either artist, 50 Years pays great attention to the teams around them. Alongside self-/portraits, we see the faces of Francis Newman, Celia Philo, Pierre Laroche – Duffy’s creative team - sat in conversation with photographs of The Spiders, taken for the album’s inner gatefolds.
50 Years also explores the concept of originality. We learn how Bowie’s pose was borrowed from Jane Lumb, better known as June 1973 for the Pirelli Calendar. Multiple origin stories are suggested for the lightning flash. Was it borrowed from Elvis, with whom he shared a birthday, who was known for ‘taking care of business in a flash’? Or perhaps the National Panasonic Rice Cooker in Duffy’s studio, known for its red lightning flash logo, which was the world’s largest neon sign in 1970?
Aladdin Sane: 50 Years is on show at the Southbank Centre until 28 May 2023.
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
Released in 1973, Aladdin Sane was David Bowie’s greatest commercial success. Over 4.6 million copies of the album have been sold to date; but arguably, it is its imagery – the vision, rather than the sound - that has taken a stronger hold in the popular imagination. Dubbed the ’Mona Lisa of Pop’, it is the cover art that distinguished Bowie from his previous alias, Ziggy Stardust, and marked the separation from The Spiders.
50 Years is similarly rooted in history. We meet Bowie prepping for his tour in the US and Japan – his first performance in Hiroshima, 28 years after the city was struck by the atomic bomb. But the show doesn’t dwell on this history, nor suggests any two-way flows of influence, save for one (uncaptioned) print. Rather, we meet him fresh off the Trans-Siberian Railway back to London, as he waltzes onto the stage at Earls Court Arena, flaunting his new theatrical Kansai Yamamoto costumes.
In a similar vein to Somerset House’s recent The Horror Show! A Twisted Tale of Modern Britain, it’s as much a social history as a pop cultural one. Sassy captions detail Britain in the 1970s, a place where the ‘average British man went straight from school to factory work, smoked heavily, holidayed in the UK and died at 68.’
The exhibition is diverse in medium; souvenir books, ‘designed for your further enjoyment of the show’, and B£10 notes, issued in Brixton in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. It’s another anachronistic nod to Bowie’s local history, shared by other recent histories of the artist, who dissociated himself from his South London upbringing.
Curated by Chris Duffy, the son of Bowie’s photographer Brian Duffy, it’s expectedly focussed on the art of the photography. There’s a wealth of proofs, contact prints, and archive materials, a delight for photography buffs and newbies alike. Francis Newman’s reworking for the back cover, dematerialising the image to a mere outline, offers a reminder of how much has changed over the course of the last half-century. Once laborious, the one-stop development process necessary to produce this image back cover could today be done in minutes with Photoshop.
From his early career at Vogue, Duffy produced portraits of everyone from Nina Simone to Harold Wilson. Many were depicted from his studio in Swiss Cottage, the other side of Bowie’s London; one subject to the ‘gentrifiers’ far sooner.
But rather than perpetuate a great man history of either artist, 50 Years pays great attention to the teams around them. Alongside self-/portraits, we see the faces of Francis Newman, Celia Philo, Pierre Laroche – Duffy’s creative team - sat in conversation with photographs of The Spiders, taken for the album’s inner gatefolds.
50 Years also explores the concept of originality. We learn how Bowie’s pose was borrowed from Jane Lumb, better known as June 1973 for the Pirelli Calendar. Multiple origin stories are suggested for the lightning flash. Was it borrowed from Elvis, with whom he shared a birthday, who was known for ‘taking care of business in a flash’? Or perhaps the National Panasonic Rice Cooker in Duffy’s studio, known for its red lightning flash logo, which was the world’s largest neon sign in 1970?
Aladdin Sane: 50 Years is on show at the Southbank Centre until 28 May 2023.
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
