Body Arts

The Beginning of Modern Electric Tattooing

The sailors who came into contact with the different tattoo cultures began to collect tattoos themselves. They started to tattoo each other, by hand, and brought the craft back home. Different designs for tattoos were being created and kept in the studios for reuse. These designs came to be known as flash.

England was a popular spot for tattooing because many naval officers would get tattooed, as well as British royalty. Hori Chyo tattooed the Duke of York in Yokohama in 1882; the Duke of York later became King George V.

The popularity of tattooing in England spread and soon there were tattoo shops in every port. Tattooing was imported to U.S. ports where it flourished in New York. It was in New York where the advent of electricity modernized the tattoo process.

The First Machine
In 1891, a New Yorker named Samuel O’Reilly patented the first electric tattoo machine. O’Reilly had been tattooing by hand on the infamous Bowery (Third Avenue) in lower Manhattan.
He took an electric rotary engraving device created by Thomas Edison and modified it so it could be used for tattooing. O’Reilly soon offered the device for sale, along with designs, colors, and other tattoo supplies. This created a boom of new tattooists.

The Circus
In the nineteenth century, circuses started using heavily tattooed people as part of the “Freak Show.” Some of the sailors would come back from Polynesia, covered in tattoos. The mainstream Western world had never seen that before and would pay to see the tattooed “freaks.” Some heavily tattooed people even had audiences with the various royal families of Europe.

In 1842, P. T. Barnum employed James F. O’Connell as the first tattooed man ever on exhibit in the United States. Many circuses also employed tattooists to tattoo the circus goers. Places like Coney Island became hotspots for tattooing.

The Sailor Tattoo
In the early twentieth century, tattooing primarily flourished in the ports of major cities such as New York and Copenhagen. Sailors would spend their money on booze and tattoos. The designs usually consisted of pin-up girls, sailing ships, roses, anchors, and hearts, to name a few. Tattooists would see tattoos from other tattooists in different countries. It wasn’t long before tattooists began to contact each other.

Sailor Jerry Collins was a tattooist working in Honolulu and was contacted by the Japanese tattooist Kazuo Oguri in 1970. The two traded information, such as where to get good colors as well as design concepts. Sailor Jerry was also in contact with two younger tattooists, Mike Malone and Ed Hardy. Soon Kazuo Oguri was introduced to Malone and Hardy, and a bridge between Japanese tattooing and western tattooing was built.

The Tattoo Convention
Tattooists have traditionally been very secretive, but by the mid ’70s, tattooists started to get together. Tattooists started to organize tattoo conventions. The conventions became meeting grounds for tattooists to share ideas, show their work, and drink together.
Bonds were formed and tattooists began to visit each other, working in each other’s shops. Conventions also allowed for tattoo enthusiasts to get tattooed by someone who lived in another state or country. Today there are tattoo conventions all the time, all over the world.