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ARTISTGus Wagner
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PAGES128
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BINDINGHard Cover
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SIZE11" x 8.5"
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WEIGHT1.16 lbs
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CONTENTVintage Photos & Art
Gus Wagner went to sea as a merchant seaman in 1897. During four years of travel he learned to tattoo by hand from tribesmen in Java and Borneo, then made his own tools, came home and spent decades as a traveling tattooist, tattooed man and circus performer. He stuck with hand tools long after electric machines took over, and helped carry tattooing into small-town America.
This 128-page hardcover, by Alan Govenar, documents that life. It includes more than 100 examples of Wagner's tattoo flash, historical photographs of him and his work, his handmade tattoo tools, and excerpts from interviews in which he tells his story in his own words.
It is a tattoo history book with real depth on a figure who links early global hand tattooing to American traditional. Collectors will value the photos and interviews, and tattooers get a run of early flash, from sailors and flags to daggers, eagles and cowgirls, worth studying.
