{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1781765"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1781765/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PL1842/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PL1842/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PL1842","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PL1836","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PL1834","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PL1837","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PL1835","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PL1841","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PL1840","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PL1839","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PL1838","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1781765","accessionNumber":"LOAN:AMERICASFOUNDATION.1046-2024","objectType":"Painting","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"An acrylic painting on a long, narrow canvas. The painting depicts David Bowie in character as Thomas Jerome Newton from the film <i>The Man Who Fell to Earth.</i> He is stood in profile, facing the left side of the composition. He has bright orange hair with a long fringe swept back, and a dark coloured coat with a turned-up collar and a hood. In the background, there is a deep blue body of water with ripples, and a blue and pink shadowy landscape beyond. There is a clear, pale blue sky. The painting is signed in small blue writing in the bottom right hand corner.\n\nThe canvas has brushstrokes of paint around the sides. There are metal studs punched into the sides of the wooden frame of the canvas at regular intervals.  On the back of the canvas, it is stapled and glued to the wooden frame. On the top panel of the wooden frame there is a handwritten inscription in pen. On the right side panel, there is a printed inscription. On the bottom panel, there is an adhered small white piece of paper with a handwritten pen inscription. ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Underwood, George","id":"AUTH404007"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"C. Roberson & Co.","id":"AUTH395718"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"x40240"},"note":"Maker of the canvas."}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"acrylic paint","id":"AAT15058"},{"text":"canvas","id":"AAT14078"},{"text":"metal","id":"AAT10900"},{"text":"pen","id":"x47746"},{"text":"printing ink","id":"AAT187371"},{"text":"wood","id":"AAT11914"},{"text":"adhesive","id":"AAT14801"},{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painting","id":"x30598"},{"text":"handwriting","id":"AAT252927"},{"text":"casting","id":"AAT53104"},{"text":"stapling","id":"AAT53021"},{"text":"printing","id":"AAT53319"},{"text":"adhesion","id":"AAT53010"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Acrylic painting on canvas. With cast metal studs and staples. Handwritten pen inscription and printed inscription on verso. ","categories":[{"text":"David Bowie Archive","id":"THES394093"},{"text":"Entertainment and leisure","id":"THES48959"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2025PL1842","2025PL1836","2025PL1834","2025PL1837","2025PL1835","2025PL1841","2025PL1840","2025PL1839","2025PL1838"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"018","id":"THES317532"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"paintings","id":"AAT33618"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"UK","id":"x29336"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1975","earliest":"1975-01-01","latest":"1975-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Lent by the V&A Americas Foundation through the generosity of Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"76.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"51","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"GEORGE UNDERWOOD 1975","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Hand painted in the bottom right hand corner of the painting. "},{"content":"TO DAVE FROM GEORGE JANUARY 1982","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Handwritten on the back of the wooden frame of the canvas. "},{"content":"DJ0349","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Handwritten in pen on a piece of paper adhered to the back of the canvas at the bottom. "},{"content":"PREPARED\r\nC. ROBERSON & CO. LTD\r\n71 PARKWAY LONDON NW1 70","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Printed on the back of one of the wooden side panels of the canvas. The printing ink is faded and partly illegible. "}],"objectHistory":"This painting was used as the front cover of the 1976 Pan Books paperback re-release of Walter Tevis's novel <i>The Man Who Fell to Earth. </i>\r\nThe novel was re-released in 1976 to coincide with the creation of a film adaptation, directed by Nicholas Roeg and starring David Bowie. The artist George Underwood, a friend of Bowie's, was asked to create the artwork for the book cover. He created this painting, inspired by a photograph taken by Steve Shapiro on the set of <i>The Man Who Fell to Earth. </i>The same photograph, but reversed, was later used as a basis for the cover of David Bowie's album <i>Low </i>in 1977.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Acrylic painting of David Bowie in <i>The Man Who Fell to Earth</i> by George Underwood, 1975","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[{"text":"Film: The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976)","id":"AUTH401635"}],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["LOAN:AMERICASFOUNDATION.1046-2024"],"accessionNumberNum":"1046","accessionNumberPrefix":"LOAN:AMERICASFOUNDATION","accessionYear":2024,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"David Bowie Archive Number","id":"THES394108"},"number":"0000.5084.0002"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-04-01","recordCreationDate":"2024-06-11","availableToBook":true}}