Tattoos

The Untold History of a Modern Art

Matt Lodder

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Hardback

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English

Yale University
07 March 2025

Art & Architecture; History of Art & Design Styles; Body art & tattooing; Social & cultural history; Popular culture

The true history of tattoo as both art and profession in the West

There is a pervasive stereotype of tattoo culture as relating to an underworld of scoundrels, sailors, and ne'er-do-wells, yet it has existed in the West as a professionalized art practice for centuries. Drawing on extensive new research and unprecedented access to largely unpublished private archives of photographs, art, and ephemera, Matt Lodder offers a new perspective on the history of commercial tattooing in Europe and the United States, beginning even before it emerged as a recognizable profession in the mid-nineteenth century. In the process, he shows that the art of tattoo has long been both practiced and commissioned by individuals across economic, gender, and class divides; he also examines the stylistic trends that have shaped tattoo's development as an art form over its history.

Lodder introduces the many artists and professionals who shaped tattoo history, including early figures like Martin Hildebrandt, the first-known professional tattoo artist in the West; prominent woman artists like Grace Bell and Jessie Knight; mid-twentieth-century icons like Sailor Jerry and Les Skuse and the Bristol Tattoo Club; and contemporary industry stars including Ed Hardy, Davy Jones, and the Leu family. Richly illustrated with rarely published images, this important book is the first to examine the history of tattoo in the west as both a serious profession and an art form.

By: Matt Lodder
Imprint: Yale University
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 248mm, Width: 191mm,
ISBN: 9780300269390
ISBN 10: 0300269390
Pages: 224
Publication Date: 07 March 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Matt Lodder is a senior lecturer in art history and theory and director of American Studies at the University of Essex.

Reviews for Tattoos: The Untold History of a Modern Art

“Beautifully illustrated.”—Dan Jones, Sunday Times “Phenomenal! Lodder has written an essential work about the tattoo profession. With thoughtful, intriguing, and accessible prose, he weaves together hundreds of sources to tell the story of tattoos in the Western world.”—David C. Lane, author of The Other End of the Needle: Continuity and Change among Tattoo Workers “This much-needed book brings to light important new research on the history of tattoo.”—Anna Felicity Friedman, author of The World Atlas of Tattoo