A huge exhibition of artwork by Bob Dylan is coming to Shanghai
In a little over a month, music, art and Bob Dylan fans alike can find common ground when the world's largest collection of the iconic singer-songwriter's art lands in Shanghai. Bob Dylan: Retrospectrum contains more than 300 mementos from the musician's life, including oil paintings, sculptures, handwritten lyrics, sketches and manuscripts dating as far back as the 1960s.
In addition to a successful music career, Dylan also proved to have a knack for art, with some of his paintings appearing on the covers of several of his albums, including Self Portrait (1970) and Planet Waves (1974). His artwork has been exhibited in museums around the world as well as in published art books under his name.
Once praised by fellow rock singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen as someone who 'freed the mind the way Elvis freed the body'. Bob Dylan left no small mark on the American music industry. The Grammy-, Academy Award- and Golden Globe-winning artist was known early on in his career for his politically charged songs and gravelly voice. He has continued to reinvent himself and his public image through experimenting with new music styles and genres.
In 1982, Dylan was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and in 1997 became the first rock star in history to be awarded Kennedy Center Honors, widely considered 'the nation's highest award for artistic excellence'.
His songwriting talent earned him a Presidential Medal of Freedom (2012) as well as a Nobel Prize for Literature (2016), the last American to be honored with the prestigious award in over two decades (since novelist Toni Morrison in 1993). As the first musician to ever be presented with the title, Dylan was extolled by the academy as 'having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition'.
📍Modern Art Museum, 4777 Binjiang Dadao, near Weifang Lu. 8 Sep-5 Jan (Tue-Sun). 10am-6pm. Extract the QR code above to purchase tickets.