Begins with the usual obligatory blurb on the art and history of tattooing found in most all collections of tattoo photos. This particular introduction is a bit better than most, having a personal slant from Henk. It is these personal touches that make it at all worth reading to the more knowledgable tattoo fan since the basic info is pretty standard fare. The introductory text is printed three times - in english, then german, then french, making it accessible to more readers and fun for those us testing our translation skills.
The images, these are the heart and soul of the book - as the name implies. It begins with ethnographic tattoos which include wondeful maori and samoan pics and many more rare shots. There are also charts here for indigenous tattoo designs for peoples throughout the world and history. Also in this section, a drawing of Prince Constantine and two photos of a young Fakir (showing sole of foot tattoo).
The next section is a collection of classic tattoo flash, including some incredible stuff by the Burchetts.
The next section goes 'From the Early Days to the 1980's' and includes many an impressive shot including circus performers, Charlie Wagner, and French prison tattoos through into the more known names of today. Many notables like Les Skuse, Doc Forbes, Cindy Ray and their work show up along with lots of others.
Following this is a section on japanese tattoos showing full suits, design sheets, and some interesting head and genital tattoos (male and female). The book ends with a contemporary section which takes us to 1996.
All the photos were well chosen and documented (artist,collector,year (*), and country listed where possible) with a great breadth of styles and peoples represented. One of my favorite photo collections...
Erik
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