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David Bowie

David Bowie understood that modern fame was built as much through images as through music.

This collection begins with Mick Rock's extraordinary photographs from the early 1970s, documenting the creation of Ziggy Stardust and one of the most influential visual identities in popular culture. More than a photographer, Rock became a creative collaborator, producing images that helped define an era.

As Bowie evolved beyond Ziggy, other photographers documented the successive reinventions that would make him one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. Presented together, these photographs reveal not only the evolution of a musician, but the central role photography played in the creation of a cultural icon.

146 works
David Bowie at the Window, Haddon Hall, 1972, photographed by Mick Rock.
David Bowie at the Window, Haddon Hall, 1972TMPG·9942
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David Bowie with Acoustic Guitar, Haddon Hall, 1972, photographed by Mick Rock.
David Bowie with Acoustic Guitar, Haddon Hall, 1972TMPG·3926
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David Bowie, Close-Up, Haddon Hall, 1972, photographed by Mick Rock.
David Bowie, Close-Up, Haddon Hall, 1972TMPG·2854
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David Bowie with Mirror, Haddon Hall, 1972, photographed by Mick Rock.
David Bowie with Mirror, Haddon Hall, 1972TMPG·9894
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Making Bowie

Haddon Hall, 1972
In 1972, David Bowie was still becoming David Bowie.

Many of the photographs in this opening chapter were made at Haddon Hall, the Victorian house in Beckenham where Bowie lived and worked while preparing the Ziggy Stardust era. Photographer Mick Rock was granted unusual access during these formative months, producing images that reveal experimentation rather than performance.

These photographs show the construction of a persona before it became mythology. The clothes, gestures, and visual ideas that would soon define a generation appear here in their earliest form, captured not as publicity but as part of a creative process.
David Bowie in the promotional film for John, I'm Only Dancing, directed and produced by Mick Rock, London, 1972.
David Bowie in the Garden, London, 1972, photographed by Mick Rock.
David Bowie in the Garden, London, 1972TMPG·1126
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David Bowie, 1972, photographed by Mick Rock.
David Bowie, 1972TMPG·9398
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David Bowie at the Microphone, Scotland, 1972, photographed by Mick Rock.
David Bowie at the Microphone, Scotland, 1972TMPG·6870
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David Bowie, London, 1973, photographed by Mick Rock.
David Bowie, London, 1973TMPG·7254
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David Bowie during the filming of the Life on Mars? promotional video, London, 1973. Photograph by Mick Rock.
David Bowie — Life on Mars?, London, 1973TMPG·3206
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David Bowie with saxophone, London, 1973 — rare color portrait photographed by Mick Rock.
David Bowie with Saxophone, London, 1973TMPG·3030
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David Bowie Performing with Guitar, United Kingdom, 1973, photographed by Mick Rock.
David Bowie Performing with Guitar, United Kingdom, 1973TMPG·9318
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David Bowie with Telephone, United Kingdom, 1973, photographed by Mick Rock.
David Bowie with Comb, United Kingdom, 1973TMPG·4550
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The Man Who Photographed Ziggy

Mick Rock and the Creation of an Icon
Few photographers have shaped the public image of a musician as profoundly as Mick Rock shaped David Bowie.

Rock was more than an observer. Working alongside Bowie throughout the early 1970s, he documented rehearsals, recording sessions, backstage moments, and portraits that would become part of the visual language of popular culture.

For many people, the image of Bowie and the image created by Mick Rock became inseparable. These photographs are not simply records of an artist; they are part of the artwork itself.
The Man Who Photographed Ziggy
David Bowie Smoking, United Kingdom, 1973, photographed by Mick Rock.
David Bowie Smoking, United Kingdom, 1973TMPG·9190
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David Bowie Kneeling on Stage, United Kingdom, 1973, photographed by Mick Rock.
David Bowie Kneeling on Stage, United Kingdom, 1973TMPG·5558
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David Bowie Applying Makeup, 1973, photographed by Mick Rock.
David Bowie Applying Makeup, 1973TMPG·2534
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Black-and-white photograph of David Bowie standing by a tall window, Scotland, 1973, photographed by Mick Rock.
David Bowie at the Window, Scotland, 1973TMPG·1014
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David Bowie, Dressing Room Mirror, Scotland, 1973, photographed by Mick Rock.
David Bowie, Dressing Room Mirror, Scotland, 1973TMPG·3862
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David Bowie and Mick Ronson, Train to Aberdeen, 1973, photographed by Mick Rock.
David Bowie and Mick Ronson, Train to Aberdeen, 1973TMPG·7078
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18 of 146 works