Bowie: An Illustrated Life

by María Hesse, Fran Ruiz, Ned Sublette (Translator)

Overview

David Bowie was a master of artifice and reinvention. In that same spirit, illustrator María Hesse and writer Fran Ruiz have created a vivid retelling of the life of David Robert Jones, from his working-class childhood to glam rock success to superstardom, concluding with the final recording sessions after his cancer diagnosis.

Narrated from the rock star’s point of view, Bowie colorfully renders both the personal and the professional turning points in a life marked by evolution and innovation. We see Bowie facing the sorrow of his brother’s mental illness, kicking a cocaine habit while other musicians succumbed to deadly overdoses, contending with a tumultuous love life, and radiating joy as a father. Along the way, he describes how he shattered the boundaries of song and society with a counterculture cast that included Iggy Pop, Brian Eno, and Freddie Mercury—as well as his own creations, Ziggy Stardust and the Thin White Duke.

Evocatively illustrated from start to finish, Bowie is a stellar tribute to an inimitable star.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781477318874
Publisher:	University of Texas Press
Publication date:	09/06/2019
Pages:	168
Sales rank:	532,769
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

An illustrator and graphic designer, María Hesse is the author of Frida Kahlo: An Illustrated Life.

Fran Ruiz is a professor of geography and history, and his writing regularly appears in the magazine Cultural Use Manual.

Ned Sublette is a musicologist and the author of four previous books.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Timeline
• Absolute beginners
• Liftoff
• Hazy cosmic jive
• The side effects of the cocaine
• Standing by the wall
• Put a bullet in my brain and it makes all the papers
• Dancing with the big boys
• A heart for the tin man
• World wide Bowie
• Never get old
• I can’t give everything away
• Discography
• Bibliography
• Acknowledgments

Editorial Reviews

09/23/2019

This odd illustrated tribute to David Bowie is written in the first person, imagining the pop star narrating his life from the moment he “decided to come into the world” to his soul leaving his body at death. In Hesse’s mildly fanciful telling, Bowie gets his famous mismatched eye not from a fistfight but from a meteor. Much space is dedicated to name-dropping famous friends and collaborators, such as John Lennon, Freddie Mercury, Yoko Ono, and Iggy Pop. More insightful passages touch on Bowie’s rocky relationship with his mentally ill brother, Terry; but otherwise the treatment is unsatisfyingly glib about the complex and mutable artist, speaking frankly about his drug problems while glossing over issues such as child abuse accusations and his flirtation with Nazi imagery. Analysis of Bowie’s work doesn’t go much deeper than pointing out that, for example, “Aladdin Sane” sounds like “A Lad Insane.” The book’s saving grace is the fabulous ink and watercolor portraits that borrow elements of religious iconography to portray Bowie with heart and nerves exposed, wrapped in rainbows, or sprouting plant life. The art reflects a man consumed with himself as an evolving art project, at once self-absorbed and self-sacrificing, coolly aesthetic and curiously, lovably human. But, alas, the dreamlike visuals and mundane text just don’t mesh. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

[A] delightful little tome…it's easy to devour in a single sitting, making it more a creative introduction than an authoritative, essential work. That doesn't stop it from being pleasurable.

Pasatiempo

This isn’t a traditional biography by any stretch, which makes perfect sense for anyone even vaguely familiar with the life and times of David Robert Jones...This illustrated version serves its purpose well because art (or artifice) was such an integral part of his persona...Hesse's work gives the pages a hypnotic power, mimicking legendary photographs in a style all her own.

Rogues Portal

[A] beautifully illustrated book of [Bowie's] life—not a 'graphic biography' but something more imaginative.

Shepherd Express

While Bowie portrayed many larger-than-life characters in his music, this book attempts to turn Bowie himself into a similarly superhuman character, adding a few extra dashes of magic, wonder and awe into his already stunning life as an artist.

Paste Magazine

[An] inventive biography…Told from Bowie's viewpoint, readers follow along his personal and professional life and meet many of the famous musicians he interacted with, including Iggy Pop, Brian Eno, Freddie Mercury and others.

Chicago Tribune

Evocatively illustrated from start to finish, [Bowie] is a stellar tribute to an inimitable star.

OutWord Magazine

"[An] inventive biography…Told from Bowie's viewpoint, readers follow along his personal and professional life and meet many of the famous musicians he interacted with, including Iggy Pop, Brian Eno, Freddie Mercury and others."

Chicago Tribune