Journey Through Tattoo History
Researched & Written by Carmen Forquer Nyssen
Buzzworthy Tattoo History is focused on accurately documenting the stories of late nineteenth and early twentieth century tattoo artists—their tattoo journey through time.
The late nineteenth century was a pivotal point in tattooing’s progression as a trade, catapulting from a many-century’s-long continuum of varied and overlapping influences. It was an era of expanded global travel via ships that brought tattooers together from different countries to exchange ideas and trade secrets. Immigration, particularly in America, also connected diverse practitioners and pushed tattoo traditions in exciting new directions. The emergence and cultivation of circuses, sideshows, dime museums, vaudeville, and various other amusements, played an equally significant role in how modern-day tattooing came to be.
It was not from one or the other, but the collision of these events, and many more, that a full-blown tattoo trade was developed. Driving it all was a dynamic cast of characters. The fly-by-night scoundrels, sideshow hucksters, seafaring sailors, blue-collar tradesmen, high-society tattooists, and lady tattooers—sometimes several rolled into one—each have a place in tattoo history.
Traveling Tattooers
Sailor-tattooers and traveling tattooers were among those who continually carried influences around the world. Through their journeys, a large network, or family tree, of tattooers slowly materialized. (Click below image link)
Adventurous Tattooers
Intrinsic in the world of tattooing was a certain call to adventure. This draw to the exotic, dangerous, and extraordinary imbued the trade/craft with added allure, or conversely, added stigma, and connected it with many other realms. (Click below image link)
Bowery Tattoo HubWith growth in sea travel, maritime culture and tattooing were bound together exponentially more, and important tattoo hubs sprang up in port cities. Perhaps none is more noteworthy than New York City’s multi-faceted 4th Ward and Bowery tattoo scene, where circuses, dime museums, saloons, and mechanical invention merged with sailor traditions to create a unique and modernized culture of tattooing.
It was here, at the turn of the 1880s, that saloon-tattooer, “Old” Martin Hildebrandt, tattooed the first trade-specific dime show attractions, and champion dime museum-tattooer, Professor Sam O’Reilly, forged a trade-worthy electric tattoo machine and covered the first electrically-tattooed men, changing the face of tattooing forever. (Click below image link).
__
For more Buzzworthy Tattoo History feature articles about the New York City Bowery see:
Birth of the Tattoo Trade: New York Bowery, Bowery Tattoo History Tattoo Articles, Bowery Tattoo History Blog
—
Over the years, the Bowery, as well as, New York City outlying areas, continued on course as a major tattoo center. Tattooers from around the globe and within the U.S. were constantly temporarily setting up in the city or making it their home for ongoing years—a few among the foreigners were John Williams, Tom Riley, Jim Wilson, Sidney Wright, Bill Donnelly, Ted Frisco, Jack Gavett, and Horitoyo.
Nature of Tattoo History
As evidenced in the articles presented above, Buzzworthy Tattoo History is dedicated to documenting specifics, along with the many cross-influences in tattooing’s rich history. But uncovering detailed information and conveying it in writing isn’t a straight forward task. It requires continual sleuthing, documenting, analyzing, synthesizing, and most importantly, an awareness of tattooing’s complex nature.
Tattooing isn’t the mere act of pricking pigment into the skin. It’s an ancient tradition ingrained in human psyche and culture; it’s as diversified as humanity itself. Though cohesive in that it is and has been—to varying degrees—a physical manifestation of cultural traditions, it’s a phenomenon that cannot be defined by any one culture or era, and it carries an inherent arcaneness. As deliberately tangible as marking the skin is, its ritual—across time—has been shrouded in intangible mystique, with certain knowledge only accessible to insiders though word of mouth. While keeping such a mysterious reverence in tattooing has upheld tradition and curbed exploitation, it has simultaneously kept the circumstances of tattooing’s vast and varied reality hidden in history. By definition, documenting the history of tattooing betrays its esoteric existence. Yet, without diligent documentation, much stands to be lost. Understanding this duality is the key to untapping its secrets.
Capturing the essence of the unique and far-reaching history of tattooing requires thoughtfulness, a deeper look at the nuances that color it. It’s about proper balance between the overarching gestalt and the characters that colored it, informing one another as a sum whole defined unto itself.
Tracing the stories of specific historical tattoo figures and their journeys is the starting point for research—it allows the spirit of tattooing to shine through the bigger picture.
Visit the various Buzzworthy Tattoo History sections to start your tattoo journey through time!!
Questions or Comments? Email:
carmennyssen@buzzworthytattoo.com
Latest Buzzworthy Posts
Latest Buzzworthy Posts
-
Templeton Crocker & Brooklyn Blackie: A Tattoo Tale with a Twist
3 years ago -
The Loryeas: A Jewish Immigrant Family’s Curious Connections with Tattooing
4 years ago -
Barnum & Bunnell’s Tattooed Humbugs: Manifesting a Tattoo Trade
4 years ago -
A Tattooed Affair: Earliest Tattooed Attractions
4 years ago -
Grand Lineages of Tattooing
5 years ago -
Wortham’s Shows Web of Tattooed Attractions
5 years ago -
Prof. Jacob Londella: Tattooer of San Francisco’s Old Chinatown
5 years ago -
Pacific Northwest Tattooers, Oregon Ben & Friends
5 years ago -
Portland Oregon’s Early Tattoo Traditions
5 years ago -
Tattoo Magic on Main Street
5 years ago