Lot 19: Brian Duffy (1933-2010)

David Bowie, "Aladdin Sane" Contact Sheet, 1973Archival pigment print, signed in ink by the artist and Duffy Archive blindstamp in the margin; signed and dated by Chris Duffy, Archive Administrator, in ink and Duffy Archive stamp on the verso.sheet 40 x 40in (102 x 102cm)

Brian Duffy first came into prominence in London during the 1960s alongside fellow fashion photographers David Bailey, Terence Donovan and Norman Parkinson. Duffy worked on his first assignment with David Bowie in 1972, during the musician's Ziggy Stardust period. Bowie and Duffy had an instant rapport and so collaborated on various other projects until around 1980, during which time Duffy photographed and sometimes even helped shape Bowie's various extraordinary stage personae. It was Duffy, for example, who carved the red and blue lightning bolt in lipstick across Bowie's face for his iconic Aladdin Sane album, and this extraordinary contact sheet enlargement dates from this session.