At the very apex of David Bowie's spectacular rise to rock n' roll fame and glory, photographer Steve Schapiro seized a rare invitation from Bowie's manager for a private photo session with the pop star in Los Angeles in 1974.
Steve Schapiro is a distinguished journalistic photographer whose pictures have graced the covers of Vanity Fair, Time, Sports Illustrated, Life, Look, Paris Match, and People, and are found in many museum collections. He has published seven books of his work, American Edge, Schapiro's Heroes, The Godfather Family Album, Taxi Driver, Then and Now, Bliss, and Bowie.
"The transformation of the mundane into the magnificent can take
place in a moment, and Schapiro and Bowie both knew how to turn
that moment into a myth." --TIME LightBox "Knowing that he's gone
makes it that much harder to open the pages of "Bowie" and see the
legendary artist silently look back into our eyes, with a smile,
having fun in wild costumes we haven't seen before, in poses that
weren't selected to become iconic. Bowie's unmatchable charisma
soon outpaces the sadness, however, and within the pages, Schapiro
has captured quiet and spirituality that's oft missing plethora of
glossy art books about the music icon." --Cool Hunting "Bowie
clearly made a lasting impression on Schapiro, whose forthcoming
book Bowie contains many previously unseen images of the musician
whom he describes as 'just brilliant...someone who made our world
bigger.'" --ELLE.com "Whilst his photos of the Civil Rights
Movement, such as the Selma to Montgomery march, came to define an
era, Schapiro has also lived through some of the most significant
changes in photography, making his insights even more valuable
today. Below we catch up with the photographer as his book of
mostly never-before-seen photographs of the late polymath and icon
are published in Bowie." --Dazed Digital "By 1974 David Bowie had
shed the skin of Ziggy Stardust and launched himself further into
cosmic androgyny with a new character, Aladdin Sane. It was during
this time that photographer Steve Schapiro received the rare
invitation of a private session shooting Bowie in LA. Bonding over
a love of Buster Keaton and a playful desire to toy with the
unexpected, the photos show an artist at his creative peak, each
photo and costume change with an entirely new set of ideas and
references." --Sabotage Times "In 1974, photographer Steve Schapiro
received a once-in-a-lifetime invitation to a private photo session
with David Bowie. The fateful shoot led to a fruitful creative
collaboration that elicited some of Bowie's most iconic images,
including the album art for Station to Station and Low. Incredibly,
one powerful image, of Bowie dressed in blue slacks and a cropped
shirt painted with diagonal white stripes, was referenced 40 years
later in Bowie's haunting final music video, 'Lazarus.'" --Yahoo!
Music "When Schapiro met Bowie in 1974, the singer had recently
shed the lightening-bolt mask he'd donned as Aladdin Sane, the
character who had in turn replaced Ziggy Stardust--the persona that
first vaulted him to global stardom. In the mid-1970s Bowie veered
into what he called 'plastic soul' R&B just in time for the
disco craze. He donned various guises in front of Schapiro's
camera, yet many images seemed to reveal that the whole rock-star
trip--with its sex-and-drug trappings--was getting tiresome.
Bowie's real feelings emerged in his 1975 hit 'Fame' (penned with
John Lennon), which charted at #1 while elucidating the vapidity of
stardom." --American Photo
"The fruit of that day's collaboration between Bowie and Schapiro
would provide some of the most iconic album art and magazine shoots
produced that decade, including art for the albums Station to
Station and Low. The Thin White Duke was ascending. Now the
pictures are being released in a book but along side some of the
familiar images are some never-before-published pictures
representing Bowie at his most creative and inspired self." --Daily
Mirror "The spectacular results of that long shoot, which lasted
from 4pm until dawn the next morning, make up a large section of
Bowie: Photographs by Steve Schapiro, which is being released today
byPowerhouse Books. Some of the pictures in the 104-page tome will
seem familiar, as they later graced Bowie's album covers or were
used on magazine covers; others have never seen the light of day
before. Schapiro not only loves them all, but treasures his time
over the years with the rock and music legend." --MR Magazine "Now
a new compendium of Schapiro's photographs, Bowie (powerHouse
Books), unveils many previously unseen images from these
sessions--and celebrates Bowie's creative genius." --Vanity Fair
"Months after Bowie's death at age 69, these mostly
never-before-published images are now compiled in Bowie:
Photographs by Steve Schapiro (powerHouse), along with photos from
tours in 1976 and 1986....These are more than just dazzling bonus
photographs to add to the world's collective Bowie shrine, though."
--Hyperallergic
"Photographer Steve Schapiro was invited to photograph David Bowie
one afternoon in 1974....The images taken that night went on to
appear on the albums Station to Station and Low, as well as on the
cover of People. One outfit, a diagonally striped navy number, even
appears in Bowie's video for Lazarus. But many of the images were
never published--until now. Schapiro's photographs of the late
artist, taken that night and over the course of their friendship,
have been collected in a new book, Bowie, published by powerHouse
Books." --The Atlantic "At that time, the question of which Bowie
you were going to get wasn't to be taken for granted, but according
to Schapiro, the one who greeted that afternoon was soft-spoken,
relaxed, and polite, charmed to learn that the photographer had
once shot Buster Keaton, one of Bowie's heroes. Though the marathon
shoot saw numerous costume and persona changes, what Schapiro
witnessed was the constancy of the quiet, thoughtful man behind it
all." --Noisey "By now we've all seen and heard countless David
Bowie tributes, mostly pretty slapdash stuff, and we're ready for
something that truly honors his historic legacy. So the timing of
Steve Schapiro's new book Bowie (powerHouse Books, $35) is
perfect." --Maxim "For any Bowie fan this book is a must, and for
any portrait photographer this book is a lesson. Schapiro's skill
is palpable in the connection between him and his subject, and
seeing these iconic images by this iconic photographer of this
iconic artist is an experience that should not be passed up."
--Resource "In 1974, at the apex of the Starman's meteoric rise to
fame, renowned photographer Steve Schapiro received a rare
invitation for a photo session with the man in self in LA. Now,
some of the never-before-published images from this session have
been brought together in a new book - aptly titled Bowie: By Steve
Schapiro - to celebrate the life of the late, great icon, and give
us all a glimpse at his most creative and inspired self." --Gay
Times
"Schapiro seized upon a rare invitation from Bowie's manager for a
private photo session with the pop star in Los Angeles. The year
was 1974. The fruit of that day's collaboration between Bowie and
the photo journalist would provide some of the most iconic album
art and magazine shoots produced that decade, including art for the
albums Station to Station and Low." --Radio.com and CBS.com "The
photobook showcases an intimate and personal account of David Bowie
between 1974 to 1987. This photobook features never-before seen
images of Bowie at his most creative and self-inspired. These
photographs expose the collaborative efforts of Schapiro and Bowie
during photoshoots, where they experimented with ideas that would
inspire Bowie's next musical and artistic ventures. " --LensCulture
"A collection of intimate, never-before-seen portraits of the late
David Bowie have been published in a new book celebrating the life
of the icon. The enchanting images are all the work of renowned
American photographer Steve Schapiro, now 82, and feature a young
Bowie between 1974 and 1975." --Daily Mail Online As seen on:
ABC News
Rolling Stone
Huffington Post
The Cut
Flavorwire
Cuepoint/Medium
Il Sole 24 Ore
The Advocate
All About Jazz
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