Never Before Published Tattoo Images Illustrate Colorful Tale

A fascinating story that lay dormant inside a trunk in a grandmother’s dark basement is coming to light. Hundreds of photos, hand-painted flash tattoo art and business memorabilia preserved but hidden for almost a century illustrate the book “Tattooing to Perfection” by Flagstaff author Judith Lukas. The richly illustrated book – part biography, part tattoo history – is scheduled to be released this month.

The chronicle follows Lukas’ grandfather, tattoo artist Professor JT Clark, as he crisscrosses oceans in the late 1800s, is nearly court-martialed during the Spanish American War, fights in the South African Boer War, sets up a tattoo parlor for Johannesburg high society, and joins the circus as a fully-tattooed man.

“The story is a whopper, but it all really happened, and it will be of interest to those who research tattoo history, sideshows, circuses and flash [tattoo artwork] of the era,” said Lukas, who recently retired from a career in international import trade compliance.

Clark moved from England to Galveston, Texas, in 1884. Later, while serving in the Spanish-American War, he was jailed. “He liked to drink and get into fights,” she said. After that war, he left New Orleans on an animal transport ship to South Africa and, once there, stayed to fight for the British in the Boer War, a diamond war of sorts.

Upon returning to Galveston, he confirmed that his wife and home perished in the Great Storm of 1900. He discovered that his pal, too, was lost in the hurricane. Subsequently, he married his best friend’s widow. The duo sailed to South Africa and opened a tattoo shop.

“No grass grew under his feet,” said Lukas about her grandfather. “They were the first professional tattoo artists in Johannesburg. Back then, tattooing was for the upper classes. Even Winston Churchill’s mother had a tattoo.”

By 1914, the fully tattooed Clark was back in North America performing in a sideshow of Ringling Bros. Circus. His wife, Bertha, was fully tattooed and billed as Princess Beatrice – Famous Tattooed Lady.

“I knew the basics of the family story. There was a trunk of stuff in Grandma’s basement. We were told, ‘Don’t open that trunk!’ When my brother passed away, the things were handed down to me.” She discovered postcards, contracts, receipts, published tattoo designs, known as “flash,” costumes, and her grandfather’s handwritten notes about Boer War battlefields in the box. Tattoo artists displayed flash on the walls of their tattoo parlors or in binders to give customers tattoo ideas.

“I knew I could write the story, but I knew I could not do the historical identification of the artwork and the layout,” she said. That’s where Derin Bray, Nick York and Mike Russell come in. Bray, tattoo historian and co-author of “Loud, Naked, & In Three Colors: The Liberty Boys and The History of Tattooing in Boston,” consulted with Lukas.

“He helped me a great deal. He introduced me to Nick York, my co-author,” said Lukas. York is a top name in the contemporary world of tattoo, with more than 45,000 Instagram followers at @prof.york.

“My colleague Nick is very knowledgeable about tattoo history and styles of artwork. Without him, I could not have organized the book in the historical context,” she said. York collaborated with Lukas on the book project by identifying the artwork and putting it into historical perspective. That was no small feat, as more than 700 never-before-published images make up the book.

Although York roughly organized the tattoo art, Mike Russell of MikeRDzign Graphic Design in Flagstaff designed the book’s interior. “He did the layout with good cheer and excellent results,” said Lukas, who lived in Flagstaff with her husband for 13 years before moving to California. Recently, California fires drove them back to Flagstaff, where they now live full-time.

Because one of the markets for this book is tattoo artists interested in finding new art, the team chose to lay out the book in an 8.75 by 11.25-inch format. “We chose the size and orientation of the book so tattoo artists could better fit it on a copy machine to duplicate an image for tattooing,” explained Lukas.

After being hidden away in Grandma’s trunk for so long, this tattoo art from the early 20th century will make its artful appearance in a 232-page, hardcover book that ships from the printer, Signature Book Printing, Inc., in Maryland. To order your copy, go to tattooingtoperfection.com. QCBN

By Stacey Wittig, QCBN