The Bowery in lower Manhattan, bordered by Chinatown and the Lower East Side, was the center of American tattooing from the late 19th century through to 1961. The area catered to sailors, soldiers, and drifters, and its tattoo shops reflected that clientele.
Samuel O’Reilly worked out of 11 Chatham Square in the heart of the Bowery. In 1891 he obtained the patent for the first electric tattoo machine, adapting Thomas Edison’s autographic printing pen for use in tattooing. When O’Reilly died in 1909, his student Charlie Wagner took over the shop at Chatham Square. In 1904 Wagner patented the first coil tattoo machine, a design still in use today. His flash included eagles, crosses, ships, and hearts, and he signed each piece with two stars and the year. In the 1930s, when other Bowery shops were charging a dollar or more per tattoo, Wagner charged between 10 and 25 cents.
Wagner took Willie Moskowitz on as a pupil in the 1940s. After Wagner’s death in 1953, Moskowitz brought his sons Walter and Stanley into the shop. The brothers became known as the Bowery Boys, and lines of up to fifty customers at a time formed outside 11 Chatham Square. In 1961 New York City banned tattooing, declaring the practice barbaric and associated with those with a morbid or abnormal personality. The ban held for 36 years. It was lifted in 1997.
Tattoo Archive · Smithsonian Institution · Cloak and Dagger London · Good Old Times Tattoo · Tattoo Box France · Bowery Boys History
The Halls of Ink Foundation is now live🙏🏽📖
I started this because I believe one of the most important things we can do is make the world better for the children who come after us. These children did not choose what was taken from them.
Tattooing sits at the heart of two of the world’s most resilient cultures. For centuries it carried ancestry, identity, and spiritual meaning. Then colonization arrived. The language was beaten out of children in residential schools. The knowledge keepers were criminalized. Populations collapsed. Tattooing was labeled barbaric and banned. Entire generations grew up without access to who they were.
The Māori people of New Zealand had tā moko, a sacred tradition where every line told the story of your ancestry, your family, your place in the world. The 1907 Tohunga Suppression Act made the practitioners illegal. It nearly disappeared entirely.
The Inuit people of the Arctic had kakiniit, one of the oldest tattoo traditions on earth, practiced almost exclusively by women, connecting them to their ancestors and their spiritual world. Missionaries arrived and within 50 years it was almost completely gone.
These two organizations are fighting back.
Te Kōhanga Reo in New Zealand immerses Māori children completely in te reo Māori from their earliest years. Not as a class. As a way of life. The language that was almost erased is being carried forward by children who speak it fluently.
Nunavut Sivuniksavut in Canada gives Inuit youth the tools to immerse themselves in their culture, their language, and their identity so they can carry it into the world with pride.
100% of every dollar donated goes directly to both organizations in equal monthly distributions. No fees. No overhead. Every cent reaches the children.
I have also made a personal pledge that 15% of all my merch and print sales will always go to the Foundation.
— Dakota Weik
The two organizations:
@tekohangareonationaltrust@nunavutsivuniksavut
Horace Ridler was born in 1882 in Surrey to an upper-class family. He burned through his inheritance, served as an officer in WWI, came home broke, failed at a chicken farm, and ran out of options.
In 1927 he walked into London tattooist George Burchett with a plan to cover his entire body including his face and head in bold black zebra stripes. Burchett refused until Ridler got written consent from himself and his wife Gladys. The process took seven years and included up to 500 surgical procedures on his face alone.
He became The Great Omi, The Zebra Man. His wife Gladys performed as Omette and introduced him at every show. His origin story, captured and forcibly tattooed by savages in New Guinea, was entirely fabricated.
By 1939 he was at the New York World’s Fair in front of 22 million people. Ripley hired him on the spot and showcased him for six months, more than 1,600 performances, longer than any other act Ripley ever booked. In 1940 he headlined Ringling Brothers at Madison Square Garden.
When WWII broke out he tried to re-enlist. The British Army rejected him. He was 57 and covered head to toe in tattoos.
He retired to a caravan in the woods in East Sussex, occasionally visited the local pub, and told people he was a member of an elephant worshipping cult.
He died in 1965, age 83.
Felix Leu didn’t set out to be a tattooist. He set out to live. The tattooing came later, a way to feed his family while they traveled the world with four kids and no fixed address. What followed changed the art form permanently.
Felix: Dare to Dream is the documentary about his life, his family, and the path he built alongside his partner Loretta. A story about tattooing, but also about freedom, art, and staying true to your dreams.
Winner of the Audience Award at Doc’n Roll Film Festival London. North American premiere this Sunday.
📍 Nitehawk Cinema, Williamsburg NY
📅 May 4th, 7pm + Directors Q&A
🎟 nitehawkcinema.com/williamsburg/purchase/22020542
📍 Mockingbird Cinema, Birmingham
📅 May 4th, 6:30pm
🎟 tr.ee/9bpB9JYZXf
🎥 Trailer: youtu.be/917iYEhz55Q
Check out the documentary page to buy tickets or learn more about the film: @felix_daretodream@theleufamilysfamilyiron
Members of the Waffen-SS were tattooed with their blood type on the underside of the left arm, roughly 20 centimetres above the elbow. The tattoo was a single letter, A, B, AB, or O, applied in basic training by a unit medic. Its purpose was practical: if a soldier needed a transfusion while unconscious and his dog tags were missing, the blood type was still on his body.
After the war, the tattoo became a liability. Allied forces inspected German prisoners of war for it as prima facie evidence of SS membership, and many former members attempted to remove their tattoos by burning, surgery, or chemical means. Josef Mengele evaded this check because he had joined the SS before blood-type tattooing became standard practice, and so had no tattoo to find. Adolf Eichmann was not so fortunate. Captured in Argentina, he claimed to be Ricardo Klement. His SS tattoo, which he had attempted to burn away with a lit cigarette, proved otherwise.
Dr. Andrew Conway Ivy of the University of Illinois served as an expert witness at the Nuremberg Trials, where he observed the SS blood-type system firsthand. Back in the United States, with the Korean War depleting domestic blood supplies and nuclear attack a genuine concern, Ivy proposed tattooing American civilians with their blood types to create what he called a walking blood bank. The program, known as Operation Tat-Type, launched in Lake County, Indiana in 1951. It spread across multiple states. In Indiana it was carried out in schools, with children tattooed under the left arm, the same location as the SS tattoos, chosen because it is the part of the body least likely to be burned or lacerated by flying debris. The program was short-lived. According to a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, it lasted less than a year and ultimately failed because physicians did not trust tattoos as a reliable source of medical information.
Sources:
Painted People, Matt Lodder · Wikipedia · Amusing Planet · 99% Invisible · The Vintage News · CONELRAD Adjacent · Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 2008 · WW2 Gravestone
Franklin Paul Rogers was born on September 9, 1905 in Couches Creek, North Carolina. His father died when he was young and his family moved repeatedly between cotton mill towns. He started working in the mills at 13, years before child labor laws were enacted. In 1926, at 21, he got his first tattoo from Chet Cain. Two years later, in October 1928, he ordered his first tattoo kit by mail from E.J. Miller in Norfolk, Virginia and began tattooing.
In 1932 he joined the J.J. Page Show, then the John T. Rea Happyland Show, where he met and married Helen. For most of the next decade they worked the carnival circuit in the summers and returned to the mills in the winters. In 1942 he opened his first shop in Charleston, South Carolina. His best weekly pay from the mills had been $42. Tattooing brought him $150 to $200 a week. In 1945 he began a five-year association with Cap Coleman in Norfolk, Virginia, at the time one of the most respected tattooers in the country. After Norfolk shut down tattooing in 1950, Rogers continued working out of shops across the South and Mid-Atlantic, and co-founded the mail order supply company Spaulding and Rogers with Huck Spaulding.
By 1970 Rogers had settled in Jacksonville, Florida, where he built tattoo machines out of a business he called the Iron Factory. He referred to the machines as irons. In 1988 he suffered a stroke and never fully recovered. When the tattoo community learned of his condition, they produced a benefit flash book in 1989 to help cover his medical expenses. He died in 1990 at the age of 84, after 56 years in the trade, and left his entire collection to the Tattoo Archive.
Image source: Tattoo Archive
Horace Leonard Ridler (26 March 1882 – 1965)
He as born into a wealthy Surrey family. The 1901 census records him as a boarder at Bedford School. He served in WWI as a commissioned second lieutenant, fought in France and with the Dorset Mountain Corps, and left the war as a Major. He burned through a large inheritance and a failed chicken farm.
He eventually tracked down tattooist George Burchett at 72 Waterloo Road, Lambeth. Burchett refused to touch his face without written consent; the letter was signed by Horace and his wife Gladys on 24 May 1934. They traveled from Mitcham to Waterloo three times a week for two-hour sittings, 150 hours total, at £100 paid in instalments.
His stage name derived from Omai, the tattooed Polynesian Captain Cook brought to England aboard the Adventure in 1774. He had his septum pierced for ivory tusks, his teeth filed to points, and his earlobes stretched. His wife performed as “Omette.” His pitch cards read “Barbaric Beauty.”
His first major booking was Bertram Mills Circus at the London Olympia. On 6 June 1939 he and Gladys crossed the Atlantic on the Laconia and checked into the Hotel Claridge in Times Square. He appeared at John Hix’s Odditorium at the New York World’s Fair alongside Betty Broadbent, and made what was likely his only television appearance there. Robert Ripley hired him as star attraction for over 1,000 appearances in six months, the longest run Ripley gave any single performer, followed by Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey.
When WWII broke out he tried to re-enlist; the British Consulate told him he was too old. He and Gladys performed for troops in Canada, toured Twentieth Century Fox cinemas, then continued to Australia and New Zealand before returning to donate performances to war charities. He retired after a final run at the Bellevue Circus in Manchester. His last recorded words: “Underneath it all, I’m really an ordinary man.” He died in 1965, aged 83.
Dr. Matt Lodder, Painted People: Humanity in 21 Tattoos (HarperCollins, 2022).
The Tattoo Archive
Tattoo Club of Great Britain
Born Bernard Wrottemberg in 1897 in Petoskey, Michigan. Claimed the identity of boxer “Fighting Dick Hyland.” Covered his entire body neck to fingertips in tattooed celebrity signatures. Started with 400, reached 600 by 1939, and ended with 1,150 total names. First tattoo was a Spanish American War chest piece. Notable signatures included William Randolph Hearst and Robert Ripley. Featured at Ripley’s Believe It or Not Times Square Odditorium in 1939. Was a Bowery NYC fixture for decades. Not a single signature on his body was his own.
Source: The Untold History of a Modern Art by: Matt Lodder
The Untold History of a Modern Art.
An incredible piece of literature by @mattlodder . It dives deep into the eras of modern tattooing. His extensive research is incredible in discovering, and showcasing history that is not easily accessible. Truly one of my favorite books, and an important part of our tattoo community in not only helping preserve its history but to also shed light on the huge impact tattooing has had on our society.
Histiaeus and the Tattooed Slave
Around 499 BCE, Histiaeus, the Ionian tyrant and ruler of Miletus, found himself relocated to the Persian capital after his growing power made King Darius suspicious. Desperate to reclaim his settlement and launch a revolt, Histiaeus needed to secretly communicate with his son in law Aristagoras without detection by Persian authorities.
According to Herodotus in his Historiae (Book V, 440 to 429 BCE), Histiaeus devised a brilliant plan. He summoned his most trusted slave, claiming the man was ill. As “medical treatment,” he had the slave’s head shaved and then scarified with a sharp stick dipped in colored dye, creating a permanent tattoo. The message read: “Histiaeus to Aristagoras: make Ionia revolt.”
He wrapped the slave’s head in bandages to conceal the fresh tattoo and kept him hidden until his hair grew back completely. Once the message was concealed beneath regrown hair, Histiaeus sent the slave to Aristagoras with simple instructions: shave his head upon arrival. When revealed, the tattooed message successfully sparked the Ionian Revolt (499 to 493 BCE).
This represents the first recorded example of steganography, the practice of hiding messages within other objects, and one of history’s earliest uses of tattooing for espionage and political purposes.
Historical Note: The tattooing likely occurred in Susa (modern day Shush, Iran), suggesting Greeks may have adopted the practice of tattooing slaves from the Persians.
Sources:
Herodotus, Historiae, Book V
Dr. Matt Lodder, Painted People
Illustration by Giorgio De Gaspari, Secolo Illustrato, September 29, 1963
Japan Bans Tattooing.
The Meiji government issued a national prohibition on decorative tattooing. Additional prohibitions followed in 1880 and 1908. The stated justification was that tattooing was barbaric and incompatible with a modern nation. The underlying political context was Japan’s effort to appear civilized to Western powers in order to renegotiate the unequal treaties it had been forced to sign under military pressure in 1858.
The ban applied to Japanese citizens only. Foreign nationals were exempt. Tattoo artists relocated to the open port cities of Yokohama, Kobe, and Nagasaki and continued working legally on foreign clients, including Western sailors, soldiers, and visiting aristocrats.
One year before the general ban, in 1871, the sinuye tattoo practice of Ainu women had already been prohibited as part of a forced assimilation campaign targeting the indigenous people of Hokkaido. The last Ainu woman with traditional sinuye tattoos died in 1998.
Sources: Metropolitan Museum of Art (Utagawa Sadahide, 1861) / Columbia University Asia for Educators, Commodore Perry and Japan 1853 to 1854 / Lars Krutak, Tattooing Among Japan’s Ainu People (2008)
