Art i facts spring 2011 The Art of the Tattoo The Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts (CCAHA) has treated thousands of works admired for their beauty, detail, and innovation, but a recent project that meets these criteria stands somewhat apart from others. The flash art, drawings, and stencils of tattoo artist Norman “Sailor Jerry” Collins are unlike most art seen in the CCAHA lab. Perhaps the greatest tattoo artist of the 20th century, Sailor Jerry first experimented with tattooing as a teenager in the 1920s, practicing with nonmechanical needles and whatever ink he could find while hopping freight trains from California to Chicago. He eventually enlisted in the Great Lakes Naval Academy. His subsequent voyages through the China Seas inspired an interest in naval culture and Asian imagery, influences that he would draw from not only when tattooing in ports of call at the time but throughout his career. In the early 1930s, Jerry settled in Honolulu, HI, a relatively peaceful city until the start of World War II, when hundreds of thousands of sailors passed through either on their way to war or just returning from it. Hotel Street, the sailors’ designated district, buzzed all day and all night with sailors frequenting the bars and brothels—and, of course, the tattoo shops, which occupied almost every other storefront. Jerry navigated merchant marine supply ships through Japanese waters for part of the war, and he then returned to Honolulu to hone his tattooing skills on the ever-present crowds of sailors. Jerry’s take on classic, or “old school,” American designs with bold, black outlines and solid, bright shading made him famous, and his craftsmanship and precision set him apart from his Hotel Street competitors. Many of Jerry’s designs originated in naval culture, symbolizing the adventures, superstitions, and romances that marked a sailor’s life. He incorporated anchors, which signified that the wearer had crossed the Atlantic; rigged schooners, which denoted a trip around Cape Horn; dragons, which stood for strength and luck; swallows, believed to guide their wearer safely home from sea; and pin-ups, taken from the posters often seen on barrack walls. These images appear throughout the 26 sheets of flash art (full-color designs that Jerry would hang in his shop for customers to choose from) and the 19 pages of crayon, charcoal, and graphite drawings treated at CCAHA. Conservator Samantha Sheesley, who managed the project, assembled a team of conservators, fellows, conservation assistants, and technicians, including Rachel Wetzel, Corine McHugh, Jessica Keister, Marion Verborg, Heather Godlewski, and Tamara Talansky. They painstakingly removed each flash art sheet from its backing board, reducing any remaining adhesive residue, and then surface cleaned the sheets, mended tears, and filled losses. Jerry had sketched his drawings on tracing paper, and, over time, each sheet had discolored to a different shade of white or yellow and had ripped, leaving irregular edges. After surface cleaning the creased sheets, conservators carefully flattened them and used toned inserts to square out the torn edges. A collection of 148 acetate stencils, which Jerry used both to transfer designs to his customers’ skin and to create “rubbings” to trade with other artists, also received treatment. Conservation staff surface cleaned the front of each stencil with a sponge, then gently cleaned the back with a soft brush so as not to disturb the pigment Jerry had applied to the incised lines when using the stencil. They mended breaks that had occurred as the acetate grew brittle with time. Facsimiles of each stencil, drawing, and flash page were printed and placed in protective sleeves, while the original works were framed by Manager of Housing and Framing Jessica Makin and Conservation Technician Stephenie Bailey. Sheesley, a tattoo fan who researched Jerry before beginning treatment, noted that many of the conserved designs reflected Jerry’s sarcastic sense of humor. “He was an interesting character, a troublemaker, and a notorious prankster,” Sheesley said. Like many tattoo artists of the era, Jerry carefully guarded his knowledge of the craft. When he sent rubbings to other artists, he often included purposeful errors, deeming the recipients unworthy of future trades if they failed to notice. Early in the 1950s, Jerry—who was strongly anti-government—closed his shop to protest paying taxes. By the time he returned to tattooing in the 1960s, he had developed higher artistic ambitions. “His most important achievements occurred in the last nine years of his career,” Sheesley said. After opening a tiny shop off Hotel Street, Jerry began exchanging letters with the Japanese tattoo masters called hori (from the Japanese word meaning to dig or engrave). “They would trade—Jerry would give the hori information on pigments, and they would critique his designs,” Sheesley said. As a result, Jerry incorporated Japanese design elements into his tattoos, and he began using Japanese shading techniques to achieve greater tonal range. He was the first American to embrace Japanese tattooing traditions, and his resulting work surpassed that of his peers in complexity and sophistication. Jerry also developed the first successful recipe for purple ink, which previously would shift on the skin or fade away. At a time when tattoo artists regularly reused dirty needles, Jerry advocated for making sterilization a standard practice. A self-taught electrical engineering enthusiast, he reconfigured his tattoo machine to build a smoother-running model that informs the design of machines used today. Sheesley believes that Jerry, who defended tradition in tattooing and believed that beginners ought to learn the necessary skills only from respected masters, would appreciate the preservation of his work. “He looked forward to a day when tattooing would be recognized as fine art,” she said. Novices, experts, and devotees alike can view examples of Jerry’s conserved flash art at two current exhibitions: Sailor Jerry Limited, which owns the work, has loaned it to Mystic Seaport (Mystic, CT) and the Columbia River Maritime Museum (Astoria, OR) for exhibitions exploring tattoos in the lives of sailors. 1 2 3 4 —KATHERINE MAGAZINER 6 5 7 FOR MORE INFORMATION... …on the exhibitions: • Skin & Bones: Tattoos in the Life of the American Sailor at Mystic Seaport (Mystic, CT) runs through September 5, 2011. >> www.mysticseaport.org • Tattoo: The Art of the Sailor at the Columbia River Maritime Museum (Astoria, OR) runs through September 30, 2011. >> www.crmm.org 1 / Conservator Samantha Sheesley surface cleaning a sheet of Sailor Jerry …on Sailor Jerry: flash art that incorporates naval, Asian, and romantic imagery 2 / Jerry’s sketch of a dragon, which would mark the wearer’s crossing of the International Date Line or symbolize strength and luck 3 / Jerry’s rigged schooner design, famous for its realistic details 4 / Japanese-inspired drawing of a geisha 5 / Conservation Technician Tamara Talansky surface cleaning the front of a stencil 6 / Conservation Technician Stephenie Bailey constructing a sealed package, to be placed in a frame 7 / Dragon flash art • Watch Hori Smoku Sailor Jerry, the feature-length documentary about Jerry and the history of American tattooing, or read Homeward Bound: The Life & Times of Hori Smoku Sailor Jerry.
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