An exhibition in Turin on David Bowie in the shots of Steve Shapiro

The exhibition David Bowie | Steve Schapiro: America. Dreams. Rights, on display at theState Archives of Turin from December 1, 2022 to March 12, 2023, chronicles the highlight of David Bowie ’s career through the shots of legendary American photographer Steve Schapiro. David Bowie in the mid-1970s, after becoming a cultural icon in England-his home country-he also succeeded in establishing himself in the largest and most difficult to conquer market ever: the United States. The album Diamond Dogs, and the related promotional tour in North America, anticipated his move to Los Angeles by a few months. In the California city Bowie would, by his own admission, experience one of the darkest periods of his life. Between cocaine abuse and an obsession with occultism, Bowie threatened to implode. But although his physical and mental health was put to the test, he found a way out of the tunnel that was leading to his death.

It was at that time, in fact, that filming began on a movie that would star him, the first of his career. Thanks to The Man Who Fell to Earth Bowie had to learn to manage himself so as to be professional on the set. Musically speaking, on the other hand, he wrote some songs that were to be included in the film’s soundtrack: it was mostly instrumental music that was not used for the purpose for which it was produced. Those soundscapes became, however, shortly thereafter the main theme of two seminal records such as Low and Heroes, records that marked Bowie’s return to Europe and his rebirth as a trailblazing and innovative artist. But before leaving Los Angeles for good, Bowie under the guise of his new persona, The Thin White Duke, recorded his ninth studio album namely Station to Station.

Present at all stages of Bowie’s American adventure is Steve Schapiro, who would be the stage photographer for The Man Who Fell On Earth and author of the shots that appear on the cover of both Station to Station and Low. Schapiro, born in Brooklyn in 1934, is already considered one of the leading photographers of the era as well as one of the most influential in the history of American popular culture. Schapiro witnessed with his camera the highlights of American society in the second half of the 20th century: from the advent of the Kennedys through the pop epic of Andy Warhol and the Factory, from the civil rights movements of Martin Luther King Jr. to sports figures such as Mohammed Ali, to art-house cinema for which he worked as a set photographer on such timeless films as The Godfather, Taxi Driver, A Man of the Sidewalk(Midnight Cowboy) and Apocalypse Now.

Bowie and Schapiro first met 1974, on an anonymous afternoon in a photography studio in L.A. One of the reasons for this shoot was to try out different ideas and characters that Bowie might develop in his live performances or music. The singer for this purpose brought along costumes to try on; Schapiro’s responsibility was to bring David’s imagination into the light of day, translate it into reality. Nothing on that first shoot had been prepared in advance.... All the ideas enacted on the set arose spontaneously from the eclectic mind of the singer stimulated by that of the photographer. During that afternoon, an immediate harmony was born between the two nurtured by their mutual passions and works - which ended up influencing each other - and a collaboration that would last until the late 1980s.

Through an extraordinary mosaic of images, Schapiro tells the story of American society in the second half of the last century more clearly, directly and yet poetically than so many novels, essays, songs or works of art have been produced to decipher one of the most complex periods in recent history. This history, which intersects with the biographical story of David Bowie, one of the great protagonists and creative minds of the 20th century, is traced in the exhibition David Bowie | Steve Schapiro: America. Dreams. Rights.

Through Schapiro’s ability to capture the humanity of his subjects, visitors can thus rediscover not only the more personal aspect of one of the great myths of 20th century popular culture but also delve into and breathe in the cultural climate in which Bowie created his work. Indeed, both artists shared a particular sensitivity to what were the social issues of the time, beginning with the civil rights struggles of African Americans, women, and queer people. Schapiro, who these struggles-important then as now-had not only documented them with his camera but also supported them in person, often made them a topic of conversation with Bowie, who for his part had always espoused them, collaborating with many black musicians and openly denouncing MTV as guilty of not broadcasting enough black artists at a historical moment in whichHip Hop was being born in the streets of many American suburbs.

Curated by ONO arte, the exhibition is produced by Radar, Extramuseum and Le Nozze di Figaro, represents a national premiere and consists of 70 shots that, starting with Schapiro’s work with David Bowie, also lead visitors to discover his work as a photojournalist and stage photographer.

Steve Schapiro (1934 - 2022) discovered photography at the age of nine during a summer camp. Excited by the potential of the camera, he spent the next decades roaming the streets of his hometown, New York, trying to emulate the work of French photographer Henri Cartier Bresson, whom he greatly admired. From amateur practice he moved on to study alongside photojournalist W. Eugene Smith, whose influence on Schapiro was immense. At Smith’s side in addition to his technical skills, Schapiro developed his artistic signature.

During the 1960s in America, dubbed “the golden age of photojournalism,” Schapiro produced photo essays on subjects as diverse as drug addiction, Easter in Harlem, theApollo Theater, Haight-Ashbury, political protest movements or Robert Kennedy’s presidential campaign. An activist and documentary filmmaker, Schapiro has told many stories related to the civil rights movement of African-Americans with his shots, including the March on Washington, the voter registration protests, and the march from Selma to Montgomery. Called by Life magazine to Memphis after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, Schapiro produced some of the most famous images of that tragic event.

In the 1970s Schapiro shifted his attention to film. With major film companies as his clients, Schapiro worked on the sets of such films as The Godfather, The Way We Were, Taxi Driver, Midnight Cowboy, Rambo, Risky Business, and Billy Madison. He has also collaborated on projects with musicians, such as Barbra Streisand, David Bowie and the Velvet Underground for record covers and related artwork.

Hours: Thursdays and Fridays from 3 to 7 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Dec. 8, Dec. 26, Jan. 1 and 6 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Last admission one hour before closing. Closed on December 25 and 31.

Ticket price: full 12 €, reduced 9 €. Reductions: U18, O65, AICS members, annual or multi-month GTT season ticket holders , Piedmont and Valle D’Aosta Museums season tickets, Concordia Theater subscribers

Pictured: Steve Schapiro, Bowie with Keaton book

An exhibition in Turin on David Bowie in the shots of Steve Shapiro

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