1000 Tattoos by Burkhard Riemschneider and Henk Schiffmacher

Tattoo: Dave Lum, Salem,
USA (Oregon)

Stuff CrushPublications

Think Ink

Pictorial history of tattoos uncovers some painful moments amid proper works of art...

What looks more painful: covering your entire back with a colourful Japanese folk art tattoo, or wearing nothing but a twisted towel up your bum crack in order to show it off? You can mull over that conundrum to your heart’s content with a copy of 1000 Tattoos, a celebration of the best in skin art from publishers TASCHEN.

After spending some time out of favour as the sole preserve of the pub psycho, tattoos are once again all the rage. Co-editor Henk Schiffmacher, Dutch body art ledge and custodian of the Amsterdam Tattoo Museum, is just the man to uncover the best and most important examples from history. The book explores tattoos as tribal art, membership badge, personal statement, decoration and love declaration, taking in designs from the 19th Century to the present day – with some surprising examples of seemingly prim British ladies going under the needle. A great source of ideas if you’re considering getting inked for the first time, although a plated fry-up on the top of your head is probably more of a second tattoo sort of design.

@TASCHENBooks

1000 Tattoos by Burkhard Riemschneider and Henk Schiffmacher

Cindy Ray in her Studio,
Ivanhoe, Australia, 1960s

1000 Tattoos by Burkhard Riemschneider and Henk Schiffmacher

Tattoo: Horiwaka, Tokyo

1000 Tattoos by Burkhard Riemschneider and Henk Schiffmacher

Edith Burchett, London,
Great Britain, about 1920

1000 Tattoos by Burkhard Riemschneider and Henk Schiffmacher

Ron Ackers at Work, Bristol,
Great Britain, 1950s

1000 Tattoos by Burkhard Riemschneider and Henk Schiffmacher

Tattoo: Dave Lum, Salem,
USA (Oregon)

1000 Tattoos by Burkhard Riemschneider and Henk Schiffmacher

Maori, New Zealand, about 1900

1000 Tattoos by Burkhard Riemschneider and Henk Schiffmacher

All images © The Amsterdam Tattoo Museum