Description
Scary Monsters 'Smoking'
Taken by Duffy during the last of the Five Sessions with David Bowie in 1980. By this time, Duffy was winding down his photographic career. His studio was no longer filled with cameras, lights and famous faces of the era. It was replaced with tools for his new venture - antique furniture restoration. Without a studio or assistant, Duffy turned to his son Chris for a venue to shoot David Bowie, the only person who could persuade him to get back behind the lens.
Bowie asked costumer Natasha Korniloff to make him ‘The most beautiful clown in the circus.’ She described David as ‘Always a lot of fun to work with.’ David's New Romantic/Commedia dell'arte variant outfit was a throwback to his earliest costume experience, starring in Lindsay Kemp's Pierrot In Turquoise - a costume also designed by the late Natasha Kornilof.
Bowie began to pose as the perfect pierrot, distressing his look throughout the session until he was reduced to a dishevelled, smeared, smoking clown. This image was included as an insert in the 'Ashes to Ashes' 7" single sleeve and around the edge of the cover. There were three variations and four inserts of 'stamps' to collect. Bowie coloured in the images with vivid coloured pens giving the stamps a childish, playful Warholian style. This image had a cross put through it, reminiscent of a selection on a contact sheet.
