Tattoo: An Art History (Forthcoming)

Despite its rich culture and aesthetic traditions, there has never before been an art history of the tattoo. Beginning with the ?discovery? of the Polynesian tattooing practices, this book traces the history of tattooing as an artistic practice in Britain ? from the first professional tattoo studio in 1870, to the present day. In this enthralling book, body art and modification expert Matt Lodder establishes a chronological survey of this oft-misunderstood and much mythologised mode of art making, from the artisanal studios of Victorian London, via the bawdy dockside spaces of the 1950s, to the seemingly ubiquitous tattoo culture of the twenty-first century. Lodder reveals how tastes and technologies have affected the type of images being tattooed; how innovations in both style and method have evolved; who the most important and influential tattoo artists were; and how tattooing has0always been a permanent fixture of the visual culture of Britain?s entire social spectrum ? from sailors and aristocratic ladies to kings