1000 Tattoos is a Taschen Publication (2005) designed and edited by art expert Burkhard Riemschneider. The book is introduced by leading tattoo artist Henk Schiffmacher, author/co-author of numerous art books including Art at the Turn of the Millennium, Albert Oehlen and Twentieth-Century Erotic Art. Schmacher also runs the Amsterdam Tattoo Museum.
1000 Tattoos – Layout of the Publication
1000 Tattoos is divided into six chapters. The Introduction, On the History and Practice of Tattooing (repeated in French and German), is followed by five collections of images, most of which come from the Amsterdam Tattoo Museum.
- Ethnographic Tattoos
- Classical Tattoo Designs
- From the Early Days to the 1980s
- Japanese Tattoos
- Contemporary Tattoo Art
In his introduction, Henk Schiffmacher explores tattoos as an art form in their own right, explaining how tattoos exist as works of art for only as long as the bearer lives. The author also outlines the wide variety of reactions provoked by this form of physical adornment: anything from curiosity, surprise and admiration to horror and revulsion.
Schiffmacher looks at the cultural use and meanings of the tattoo, addressing questions such as: how do ethnographic groups use tattoos to indicate kinship? He reminds us that tattoos date back to ancient times and remain popular around the world, and reinforces his opinion by quoting Charles Darwin, who said: ″There is no nation on earth who does not know this phenomenon″. (1000 Tattoos, p. 6.)
Tattoo Techniques – An Unchanging Tradition
According to Schiffmacher, apart from the introduction of electric tattoo machines, there have been very few changes in traditional tattooing techniques since the practise began. The quality of tattooing varies enormously, relative to the level of education and economic development. Schiffmacher outlines the many different techniques used around the world. For example, he tells us the Thai, Cambodians and Burmese puncture the skin with a long sharp point, thereby creating complicated patterns consisting of rows of dots and spirals. A similar method has been in use in Europe for hundreds of years and is still favoured by North American Indians.
Electric Tattoo Machines
The introduction of electric tattoo machines in 1891 opened up a whole new field of artistic possibilities. Nowadays, only highly skilled tattoo artists perform tattoos manually. Schiffmacher provides a fascinating insight into the efforts of amateur artists who have been known to harness the power of electric toothbrushes and razors, or even cassette recorders, to operate their home-made tattoo machines. Some of these imaginative devices have been made from bits and pieces, including ball-point pens, sticky tape and straws. The inks are made from soot, resin, animals, plants, the ashes of cremated bodies, and other organic materials. These are bound together with water, fruit juices, alcohol, urine, blood, spit, or even semen!
The Cultural Significance of Tattoos
Schiffmacher explains the cultural significance of the tattoo and why it is so important to so many different societies around the world. Tattoos have been used for many reasons: to show kinship and a people's history, to indicate rebellion, to prove independence, as camouflage or to frighten one's enemies, or to celebrate an event such as a birth, marriage or death. In some societies tattoos are used to invoke fertility or as a vaccination against illnesses, or to protect against accidents, disasters, or possession by demons. The Samoans and Berbers tattoo against rheumatism, and in the West, American sailors and Marines put a rooster on one foot and a pig on the other for protection from drowning.
Famous Tattooed People
There are, of course, plenty of other reasons for body decoration, and Schiffmacher cites the case of the circus artist, known as 'Enigma', a performer with the Rose Circus Side Show, whose entire body was covered with a puzzle pattern. Such artists used to earn huge sums of money in the USA, although the practise has almost completely disappeared.
There have also been a number of famous tattooed ladies, including Le Belle Irene, Betty Broadbent and Anni van den Burg, whose tattoos matched those of her husband.
According to Schiffmacher, tattoos are associated mainly with the lower social classes, but not entirely limited to those groups. For example, tsars and tsarinas, Emperor Wilhelm II, and Lady Randolph Churchill, all had tattoos. Icons of the 21st century, such as Sean Connery, Sean Penn, Whoopi Goldberg, Drew Barrymore and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, to name but a few, also have tattoos.
Famous Tattoo Artists
Finally, Schiffmacher discusses the work of specific tattoo artists such as Cindy Ray, Jack Rudy, Dave Shore, Bob Roberts, Mick Malone, and Ed Hardy, who according to the author, became one of the finest tattoo illustrators of all time. Schiffmacher also acknowledges some of the great Japanese masters, including Horihide Kazuo Oguri of Gifu in Japan, from whom Hardy learnt his skill.
1000 Tattoos is presented in a compact format (14 x 19.5 cm (5.5 x 7.7 in.) comprising 576 pages, and at least 1000 images. Its language is scholarly, yet reader friendly, and will appeal to the merely curious, as well as the experienced tattoo artist. 1000 Tattoos is published by Taschen GmbH (2005). (ISBN: 978-3822841075) and priced at £8.99.
Frances Spiegel - Frances Spiegel, B.A. Hons. (Open)., Dip.Eur.Hum., read Art History/European Modern History at the Open University.
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