People started to get full sleeves tattooed, and the artwork itself became more detailed, including elements like shading and depth. Tattoos became bigger and more intricate in the 70s. The peace sign tattoo soared during this embattled era.Ī protester highlights the many political issues that dominated the country in the 60s. Patriotic tattoos declined as most people did not support the Vietnam War, and cause-specific tattoos were seen on people raging against all sorts of injustice. The Vietnam War, the women’s rights movement, the civil rights movement, rock and roll…the 60s were a time of cultural upheaval, and the tattoo industry reflected that rebellious spirit. Tattoos went back to being for seedy folks with whom you wouldn’t watch Leave it to Beaver. Simple, two-dimensional, colorful designs like a heart drawn around the word “Mom,” hula girls, pinup girls, palm trees, and patriotic tats dominated his iconic catalog.īut tattoos went back underground when World War II ended and the US opted for a more conservative society-think 1950s housewife, not Rosie the Riveter. Sailor Jerry tattoos proliferated during this time. More people were beginning to see them as a beautiful art form.
Tattoos were no longer just for circus freaks. More men got tattoos to honor their service in the armed forces, and, as women filled the void men left in the work force, they too got tattoos to show their support for the USA, emboldened by their new power in the economy.Ī woman shows off the tattoo she got during World War II | LINK Tattoos enjoyed a huge patriotic boom thanks to World War II. Getting a tattoo became a lot less painful, encouraging tattoo enthusiasts to up the number of tats on their bodies.ĭuring the 1930s, when the government introduced Social Security Numbers, a significant number of people chose to have their SSN tatted on their skin, encouraged by the government’s stern warning that you should never forget this number. Things changed in 1904 when Charlie Wagner invented the coil and tube tattoo machine in 1904.
It’s important to remember that tattoos were uncommon for another big reason: they hurt! People who got tattoos usually stuck with only one or two because the “stick-and-poke” method was painful. Navy and Army men could get away with displaying patriotic tattoos, and the occasional civilian could rock a religious tattoo like a cross and get away with it, but tattoos were very much out of the mainstream at the beginning of the century. Tattoos were so taboo that people paid to see circus freaks displaying them at sideshows. Sailors with swallow tattoos were well traveled.
Other tattoos had specific meanings in the nautical community: a swallow tattoo meant that a sailor had traveled 5,000 miles, and a turtle told people they’d crossed the equator. Sailors used tattoos as a way to document their travels, popularizing nautical tattoos like anchors. Let’s take a look at how tattoos have changed over the last century in the USA:Īt the dawn of the 20 th century, tattoos could be found on those society perceived as unsavory or “other”-sailors, circus freaks, prison inmates, etc. In the United States, tattoo trends have evolved a lot in the last hundred years, morphing from an underground, seedy practice to a mainstream, exploding industry. In the case of tattoo culture, art most definitely imitates life, as political and social revolutions have impacted what styles are trending and who’s choosing to get inked. The ultimate form of commitment-free self-expression. That evolution has led us all the way here to our semi-permanent tattoos. And over the centuries, they have enjoyed quite the evolution. Tattoos have been around for thousands of years.
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