During the Eno trilogy, art seems to have affected Bowie moreso than any other era of his career. The most obvious references to the art world appeared during the making of “Heroes”. For example:
|
|
A self portrait by Walter Gramatte. A German artist. |
|
|
|
|
By Erich Heckel. Also a painter from Germany. Led to this from an album Bowie produced for Iggy Pop, his partner in Berlin. |
|
|
|
|
This is Otto Mueller‘s Lovers Between Garden Walls. Rumor has it that Bowie observed Tony Visconti and Antonia Mass kissing , discretely. At the time, Bowie was within viewing distance of the Berlin Wall. My thought is he put the three together to create the song “Heroes”. | ||
Bowie always totally immersed himself in the culture he was writing about. When he lived in the US, he absorbed and became a soul man. He then ditched Los Angeles for Berlin. As such, he immersed himself in German art and his albums took a decidedly European tone. The sound of this era was also very German, reflecting heavily the influence of bands such as Kraftwerk. It’s my second favorite genre of Bowie I believe only to the hippie London era. Low and “Heroes” are probably the two most under-rated albums Bowie made, ESPECIALLY Low. During this era, Bowie also did a lot of painting as well. It’s impossible to miss the German art influence he carried with him since:
