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London’s V&A to Host David Bowie Archive at New East London Location

by Monica C. Smith

LONDON — The Victoria and Albert Museum has secured the rights to the archive of David Bowie, the cultural institution revealed Wednesday.

Beginning in 2025, the archive of more than 80,000 items that connect to the artist’s six-decade-long career will be made available to the public through the creation of The David Bowie Centre for the Study of Performing Arts at V&A East Storehouse, in Stratford’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

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The acquisition and creation of the center were made possible thanks to the David Bowie Estate and a donation of 10 million pounds from the Ukrainian-born, American-British businessman Leonard Blavatnik’s family foundation and Warner Music Group.

Quilted two-piece suit, 1972. Designed by Freddie Burretti for the Ziggy Stardust tour.

The quilted two-piece suit, 1972. Designed by Freddie Burretti for the “Ziggy Stardust” tour.

Tristram Hunt, director of the V&A, said: “David Bowie was one of the greatest musicians and performers of all time.…Bowie’s radical innovations across music, theater, film, fashion and style — from Berlin to Tokyo to London — continue to influence the design and visual culture and inspire creatives from Janelle Monáe to Lady Gaga to Tilda Swinton and Raf Simons.

“Our new collections center, V&A East Storehouse, is the ideal place to put Bowie’s work in dialogue with the V&A’s collection spanning 5,000 years of art, design and performance,” Hunt added.

The archive contains a wide range of items that include handwritten lyrics, letters, sheet music, original costumes, fashion, photography, film, music videos, set designs, Bowie’s own instruments, album artwork and awards. It also includes more intimate writings, thought processes and unrealized projects, the majority of which have never been seen by the public.

Fashion highlights among them include the Ziggy Stardust ensembles designed by Freddie Burretti, Kansai Yamamoto’s dazzling creations for the “Aladdin Sane” tour, and the Union Jack coat designed by Bowie and

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DESIGNER

Extensive archive of David Bowie’s work to be made public in 2025

by Monica C. Smith

An extensive archive of David Bowie’s life,work and legacy will go on display to the public for the first timein 2025, it has been announced.

Acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum (V and A), the exhibition will include more than 80,000 items that span six decades of thecultural icon’s career.

They will be made available to the public through the creation of The David Bowie Centre for the Study of Performing Arts, which will open in Stratford’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

It will allow fans and researchers alike to get up close and gain new insights into Bowie’s creative process like never before, the V and Asaid.

The collection will feature handwritten lyrics, letters, sheet music,original costumes, fashion, photography, film, music videos, set designs, album artwork and awards.

It will also include instruments owned by the world-famous musician,as well as writings and unrealised projects never before seen in public.

Highlights include stage costumes such as Bowie’s breakthrough Ziggy Stardust ensembles, designed by Freddie Burretti in 1972, Kansai Yamamoto’s creations for the Aladdin Sane tour in 1973, and the UnionJack coat designed by Bowie and Alexander McQueen for the 1997Earthling album cover.

The archive also includes over 70,000 photographs, prints, negatives,slides and contact sheets taken by some of the 20th century’s leading photographers from Terry O’Neill to Brian Duffy and Helmut Newton.

Its acquisition by the V and A and the creation of the centre was made possible thanks to the David Bowie Estate and £10 million ($12.1million) donation from the Blavatnik Family Foundation and Warner Music Group.

Dr Tristram Hunt, director of the V and A, said: “David Bowie was oneof the greatest musicians and performers of all time.

“The V and A is thrilled to become custodians of his incrediblearchive, and to be able to open it up

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DESIGNER

V&A museum acquires Bowie’s archive, will put it on display

by Monica C. Smith

LONDON (AP) — From Major Tom to Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, the many faces and inspirations of David Bowie are getting a permanent home in London.

Britain’s Victoria & Albert Museum announced Thursday that it has acquired Bowie’s archive of more than 80,000 items as a gift from the late musician’s estate. The trove of costumes, musical instruments, letters, lyrics, photos and more will be opened to the public at a new arts center dedicated to the chameleonlike pop icon.

The David Bowie Center for the Study of Performing Arts is due to open in 2025 as part of V&A East Storehouse, an offshoot of the U.K.’s national museum of art, design and performance that is being built in east London’s Olympic Park.

The V&A said the center will let fans and researchers gain insights into the creative process of Bowie, who died in 2016 at the age of 69.

Kate Bailey, the museum’s senior curator of theater and performance, said the archive was an “extraordinary” record of a creator whose “life was art.”

“Bowie’s a polymath, he’s multifaceted. He was inspired by all genres and disciplines,” she said. “He’s an artist who was working really in 360 — drawing from literature, but also drawing from art history … (and) the places that he’d been to.”

The musician — born plain old David Jones in the London suburbs in 1947 — reinvented himself restlessly, creating and shedding personas as he moved through musical styles from folk-rock to glam to soul to electronica.

He created a series of larger-than-life stage characters, mining influences ranging from German Expressionist cinema to Japanese Kabuki theater. In turn he has influenced musicians, filmmakers, fashion designers and advertisers.

Some of the items in the archive formed part of “David Bowie Is,” a multimedia exhibition that

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