Tattooing is an art that has always been under construction. Although it been a contributing part of counterculture, tattooing has also contributed to art history in more ways than one. Once seen as a permanent marking for bikers, criminals, and rejected groups of society has now become a form of expression for everyone ages 18 and above. In America, native american tribes used it as a representation of their cultures and later on sailors and soldiers used tattoos to show where they had been and what they stood for. Artist such as Samuel F. O’Reilly, Martin Hildebrandt, and Norman 'Sailor Jerry' Collins have made lasting impressions on the style known today as american traditional tattoos.
To get a full understanding of where american tattoos came from we have to go way back to the earliest evidence of tattoos were supposedly found on several egyptian female mummies that date back to c. 2000 Bc. A 5,200 year-old frozen mummy called Otzi the iceman discovered in 1991 by two tourist in the Italian alps. changed that. With a total of 61 tattoos found along the lower back and joints, it is believed that the iceman used tattooing for therapeutic or diagnostic purposes.
Tattooing was never …show more content…
‘ “ During war times I never had a moment's idle time. I must have marked thousands of sailors and soldiers [...] I put the names of hundreds of soldiers on their arms or breasts, and many were recognized by these marks after being killed or wounded. (The New York Times: January 16, 1876). ( Mayers, 2015, p. 3) He set up shop with his wife, Mary, and son, Frank, tattooing men fighting both sides of the war in lower Manhattan. Even after the war he continued to run his shop and was known to tattoo several women who worked in freak show attractions in New York as well as shows that traveled around the
To get a full understanding of where american tattoos came from we have to go way back to the earliest evidence of tattoos were supposedly found on several egyptian female mummies that date back to c. 2000 Bc. A 5,200 year-old frozen mummy called Otzi the iceman discovered in 1991 by two tourist in the Italian alps. changed that. With a total of 61 tattoos found along the lower back and joints, it is believed that the iceman used tattooing for therapeutic or diagnostic purposes.
Tattooing was never …show more content…
‘ “ During war times I never had a moment's idle time. I must have marked thousands of sailors and soldiers [...] I put the names of hundreds of soldiers on their arms or breasts, and many were recognized by these marks after being killed or wounded. (The New York Times: January 16, 1876). ( Mayers, 2015, p. 3) He set up shop with his wife, Mary, and son, Frank, tattooing men fighting both sides of the war in lower Manhattan. Even after the war he continued to run his shop and was known to tattoo several women who worked in freak show attractions in New York as well as shows that traveled around the