Critic's reviews of Bowie’s own artworks were mixed, and he had to weather a certain degree of ridicule as a rock star foraying into the often unwelcoming art world. However, working with the David Bowie Archive makes clear that his engagement with the art world was prolific, and something which he took very seriously. In 1994, Bowie became a member of the editorial board of Modern Painters, a fine arts journal for which he would produce interviews with artists including Balthus, Roy Lichtenstein, Jeff Koons, Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst. In 1997, Bowie launched 21 Publishing, a co-venture set up alongside Sir Timothy Sainsbury, gallery-owner Bernard Jacobson, and Karen Wright, former editor of Modern Painters.
The David Bowie Archive has a range of material related to 21 Publishing and Bowie’s art writings, including copies of the company’s first publication Blimey! From Bohemia to Britpop: The London Art World from Francis Bacon to Damien Hirst, by Matthew Collings. While cataloguing his writings, an intriguing reference to a copy of another 21 Publishing monograph by William Boyd called Nat Tate: An American Artist 1928–1960 was discovered. It could be assumed that Nat Tate was an artist as well known as the others represented in the archive, and perhaps one that should have been heard of before. So who was Nat Tate?
A quick bit of research revealed that it was a cunning hoax co-orchestrated by Bowie! A further search through the archive revealed more details, courtesy of an extensive collection of press clippings related to the event.
It's 31 March 1998, and artists and critics from the New York art world have turned up en masse to artist Jeff Koons’ apartment in response to a glamorous, gold-edged invitation: ‘David Bowie, Tony Elliott, Bernard Jacobson, Sir Timothy Sainsbury and Karen Wright invite you to the launch of William Boyd’s Memoir of Nat Tate’.
Bowie performs a reading from the book to an emotional audience, recounting the short and tragic life of Tate, a talented artist who burned his artworks shortly before jumping to his death from a Staten Island ferry at the age of 31.
Journalist David Lister is in attendance, and is sceptical; he’s never heard of Nat Tate, a name suspiciously reminiscent of London’s two biggest art galleries. Around the room, critics and artists ask each other ‘did you know him?’, and no one seems to be saying ‘no’. Lister asks a group of critics about Tate, and writes in The Independent that ‘they nodded their heads sagely and murmured: "not terribly well known…", "didn’t have much of a reputation outside New York…", "the abstract expressionists you know, there were a lot of hangers on"'. The event attendees leave without raising a question, though a reader of an extract from the book published in The Telegraph writes in confessing he’s never heard of Nat Tate, and wonders if, in light of the proximity of the book’s release to 1 April, the whole thing is an April Fool’s joke.
Lister is the first to unveil the truth in an article in The Independent – Nat Tate never existed, and the book launch was not only an April Fool’s joke, but an exposure of the fragility of pride, reputation and credibility in the art world. Karen Wright, a co-conspirator of Bowie, told The Independent the hoax wasn’t intended maliciously but rather to poke fun at people’s unwillingness to appear foolish, pointing out that "no one can have heard of every artist".
William Boyd later wrote that his aim in writing the book was to ‘challenge our notions of authenticity’. This eccentric episode in Bowie’s career aptly summarises the experience of working in the archive of an artist whose constant reinventions of himself through fashion, different personas, and a range of artistic pursuits, did the very same thing.
This part of the collection includes sketches, designs, writings, lyrics, press cuttings, books, and photographic prints. The catalogue is structured thematically, and you can find brief descriptions of the content you will find in each file.
Visitors can explore the collection in person by scheduling advance appointments with the Archives team. Paper-based material is available to view on Thursdays and Fridays only, between 10:00 – 17:00.
Find out more about the David Bowie Centre.
