Laser tattoo removal treatments began to be developed in the 1960s, but it took many decades to find techniques that did not cause deep wounds, ugly scars and too much ink residue under the skin. Time has passed and research has been done...Read More
The Cheyenne brand from Berlin (Germany) presents a tattoo machine with a different mechanism from previous machines. They are small, quiet, light and easy to clean. Shortly afterwards, Cheyenne introduces the so-called cartridges, disposable needle modules for tattooing. Cheyenne's machines have been very successful mainly...Read More
Miami Ink, the first of many reality shows filmed in tattoo stores, was born. Miami Ink has been an international success and has helped a lot to demystify the tattoo stores and to diminish the various prejudices with tattooists and tattooed people. After Miami Ink, came LA Ink, London Ink and...Read More
Fashion designer Christian Audigier buys the rights to produce a clothing line called Ed Hardy, which is based on designs by the artist. Eventually, a series of fragrances bearing Hardy's name was also launched. These products have been marketed worldwide. Red Eyes, Ana..Read More
Finally, there started to be easier and cheaper access to quality tattooing material. And in these years there is an important milestone in the history of tattooing: the commercialization of already welded needles for tattooing. Until then, learning how to solder the needles used for tattooing was always a challenge...Read More
MTV, then a television channel entirely dedicated to music, begins broadcasting. Television, movies and music are becoming more and more accessible to everyone. The cultural production seen through the screens influences young people from all over the world, mainly those generated by the United States...Read More
AIDS became known at the beginning of the 80's, spread around the world and until the end of the 90's it was still a very lethal disease. As it is a blood-borne disease, tattooists adopt new hygienic and sanitary protocols, many of them of their own free will and others...Read More
Janis Joplin may have been the first celebrity of her time to get a tattoo, and she did it in the early 70's in San Francisco with the great Lyle Tuttle, also known for tattooing the great Lyle Tuttle.Read More
In the city of Gifu - Japan, in 1933 was born Kazuo Oguri, now an institution in the world of Japanese tattooing. He moved to Tokyo when he was 20 years old to study traditional Japanese tattooing for 5 years with Hideo Murai, the Horihide of Tokyo. He then returned to his hometown...Read More
The American authorities began to strictly control the tattoo artists, which caused many of them to retire or move away. At the same time, there began to be a great moral opposition to the circus artists of the time. Tattooing began to be associated with the marginalized and the criminal world.
The Great Omi, a former lieutenant in the British army visits London tattooist George Burchett to begin his transformation into one of the most famous tattoo artists of the 20th century. George Burchett was known as the "king of tattoo artists", and in his day became the tattoo artist of choice....Read More
Norman Keith Collins is born. Better known as "Sailor Jerry", he is one of the great exponents of the traditional American style. Sailor Jerry made several contributions to the world of tattooing, among them improvements in machines, needles and power supplies for tattoos, in addition to expanding the range of existing colors to...Read More
Charlie Wagner, Samuel O'Reilly's apprentice, patents a new version of an electric tattoo machine, inspired by that of his master. In the same year, the already famous London tattooist Tom Riley, known for tattooing royalty and high society, tattoos a buffalo during an exhibition in London.Read More
Samuel O'Reilly patents the first electric tattoo machine, thus making the act of tattooing much faster and less painful and thus much more popular, of course! It is the adaptation of an electric pen that had not been very successful, previously patented by Thomas O'Reilly, who was the first to patent an electric tattoo machine.Read More
Nora Hildebrandt makes her first professional presentation. She is the first fully tattooed woman to exhibit her body in a circus in the United States. Like other tattooed circus performers, her performance was accompanied by a fantastic story to justify her tattooed body. https://baumfest.com/nora-hildebrandt-la-primera-estrella-tatuada/
Before the Meiji era (1868-1912), ornamental tattooing, including horimono, was a fairly visible cultural feature in Japan. However, during the reign of Emperor Meiji Tennō the country goes through a phase of modernization and westernization. Then the Meiji civilization campaign considered the horimono as a..Read More
Captain George Constentenus joins Barnum's New and Greatest Show on Earth, inspiring many young people to enter the world of tattooing, including Charles Wagner of New York. Captain George Constentenus, also known as Tattooed Prince, Prince Constantine or the Greek Albanian, among many other names...Read More
New York and Chicago become the first two major centers of tattooing in the United States. At the same time, railroad routes were extended and made it possible for circus attractions to reach more cities, which facilitated communication and learning among tattoo artists.
Irishman James F. O'Connell is the first tattooed man to be exhibited in the United States, where he recounted his incredible adventures during the years he spent in the Caroline Islands (Micronesia). He has also left an extensive written account. The Life and Adventures of James F. O'Connell, the Tattooed Man (1845) The Story...Read More
These days Suikoden is already a very successful work and even more since the illustrated publication made by Hokusai. In 1827, Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861) was invited to make some woodcuts on the novel. Then the still unknown artist represents six heroes, two of them tattooed. The publication...Read More
The first Japanese translation of Suikoden where the visual content is as relevant as the written content is published. Firstly, it is a collaboration between the writer Kyokutei Takizawa Bakin (1767-1849) who intends to make a faithful translation of the Shuihu zhuan and the Ukiyo-e artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). This...Read More
A revitalization of the entertainment industry took place and the government relaxed controls on tattooing, allowing the technique to evolve more rapidly and the first professional tattoo artists to emerge, who were often the same carvers who engraved the Ukiyo-e style plates. With this, al...Read More
At the end of the 18th century, Japanese ornamental tattooing became more elaborate, took on larger dimensions and became more and more popular. Japan has been living under a feudal military dictatorship since 1603 and the citizens begin to develop a strong class consciousness. These elaborate kimono-like tattoos, which are worn by the Japanese.Read More
Marco Polo and John Hawkins had made stories of tattooed people before, but not so relevant. After a voyage through the Pacific and a visit to Tahiti, Captain James Cook (English navigator and explorer) in the company of Joseph Banks tells how the people of this place painted in a way that was not so...Read More
Decorative tattooing is gaining more and more space and begins to approach the traditional Japanese style we know today. In the Hōreki era (1751-1764), ornamental tattooing began to become popular in the form of small drawings representing family crests and namakubi (freshly severed heads). In the Meiwa era...Read More
No other source has offered as much inspiration for Japanese tattooing as the adaptations of the Chinese narrative Shuihu zhuan. This will happen only from the 1820s, but in Japan this narrative becomes known in 1728 and gradually gains strength. Attributed to the writer.Read More
In Japan, between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the practice of irebokuro arose in the pleasure districts. Irebokuro means "inserted mole" and are tattoos of black dots as a symbol of sentimental attachment. Eventually the practice spread throughout the country, even in the upper classes. The moles...Read More
He was an enslaved man known as Prince Giolo (Gioli or Jeoly), originally from Miangas Island (near what is now Davao Oriental). He spent time in England, where he was exhibited as an exotic animal and died three months later due to smallpox. https://baumfest.com/la-triste-historia-del-principe-pintado/
Tattooing was used as a form of punishment to stigmatize criminals for more than 200 years in the Edo Period (1603-1868) in Japan. Then the expression irezumi (insert ink) began to be used to refer to tattoos for criminal use. These were usually people who had been...Read More
The Edo period (Tokugawa shogunate) begins, a feudal military dictatorship that will last until 1868. Japan is unified and the shogun's rule is consolidated in Edo, now Tokyo. This time accompanies a growing economic expansion and a renaissance of Japanese art. Until then, art was reserved for the elite,...Read More
The Nihon Shoki (second oldest book on the history of Japan, published in 1720) tells how the emperor Yūryaku Tennō punishes one of his servants with a tattoo on his face. References: Wikipedia
The Nihon Shoki (second oldest book on the history of Japan, published in 1720) mentions the story "of the eye of Azumi", where the emperor Richū Tennō uses tattooing as a punishment for a crime. References: Wikipedia
Chen Shou, a Chinese writer who lived between 233 and 297, mentions the tattoos of the inhabitants of Wa (Japan). He tells that the Japanese tattooed their bodies and faces, and that the practice was common among women and men, adults and children.
The first written sources originating in Japan are the Kojiki (year 712) and the Nihon Shoki (year 720) and they relate the existence of tattoos since the 1st century in Japan. It is worth remembering that the first review of the Nihon Shoki book mentions the tattoos of the Emishi people during the reign of the.Read More
The tattooed princess of Ukok, also known as ice lady or princess of Altai was found in 1993 in Siberia (border between Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan). This Scythian woman lived in the 5th century B.C. and presents a very elaborate drawing that seems to be of a deer on...Read More
Recent research shows that the mummies of the Gebelein man and woman have tattoos. These findings conclude that tattooing was practiced during the pre-dynastic period in Egypt. Two horned animals were identified on the man and four small drawings in the shape of horns were identified on the woman.Read More