Fans of David Bowie will have a previously unattainable look into his life, career, and legacy thanks to the Vandamp;A museum's acquisition of the rock star's archive.
More than 80,000 letters, song lyrics, pictures, stage designs, awards for music, and costumes are included in the collection.
It also includes a number of the musician's personal instruments, such as the Stylophone he used to create his breakthrough single Space Oddity in 1969.
In 2025, the archive will be put on display in a brand-new east London location.
According to Dr. Tristram Hunt, director of the V&A, the David Bowie Centre for the Study of Performing Arts in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will serve as a "sourcebook for the Bowies of tomorrow.".
Senior curator Kate Bailey, who had previously contributed to the museum's ground-breaking 2013 David Bowie Is exhibition, said, "It's an amazing gift. exhibition.
"It covers Bowie's entire career. From his very first recordings in the 1960s up until [the 2013 album] The Next Day and beyond, there are priceless artifacts.
The personal insights, the handwritten lyrics, and the conversation with other creative practitioners about how a song is written, how a song is recorded, or how a video is handled all intrigued me.
"All of these things are very strong and wealthy. ".
Freddie Burretti's 1972 Ziggy Stardust costumes for Bowie and the union jack coat that Bowie and Alexander McQueen created for the 1997 Earthling album cover are two other standouts.
The collection also includes examples of Brian Eno's "cut-up" method for lyric writing, which involved literally chopping up existing texts to create new meanings from the rearranged pieces. This method was used on Bowie's 1977 albums Low and Heroes.
Ms. Bailey praised the archive's preservation efforts, calling them "fantastic" and "meticulous.".
These items and papers were significant to him, and you get the impression that since he was constantly moving forward creatively, it was useful to park, gather, and store [everything] before moving on to the next character or project. ".
By the V, acquisition.
According to a press release from Bowie's estate, "David takes his rightful place among many other cultural icons and artistic geniuses with his life's work becoming part of the UK's national collections.".
The David Bowie Centre for the Study of Performance and the access it provides to the backstage. ".
Nile Rodgers, a guitarist and producer who worked with David Bowie on the album Let's Dance in 1983, continued, "I think everyone will agree with me when I say that. if there could only be one artist in the V.
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