Pierced Hearts and True Love: A Century of Drawings for Tattoos
Tattooing is not only widely practiced, but in recent years has become quite fashionable.   Accordingly, over the course of this century, designs for tattoos have evolved from standardized   "flash" to completely customized work that allows for more detail, creativity, and even abstract   painterly effects. With its curious collection of imagery, including vintage freak show advertisements, this   book explores the development of the iconography of the tattoo and examines the age-old rite and tradition   of embellishing the human body with images, words, and designs. Completely absorbing, the book traces   the remarkable changes in tattoo styles and practices in the past several decades that have contributed   significantly to this medium's ever-growing popularity and diversity. Particularly fascinating is a chapter   devoted to tattooed women that includes photographs from the turn of the century to the present.