Herbert Hoffmann (tattoo artist)

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Herbert Hoffmann (born December 30, 1919 in Freienwalde in Pomerania ; † June 30, 2010 in Heiden , Switzerland ) was a German tattoo artist and photographer .

youth

Herbert Hoffmann was born in rural Pomerania and grew up in a middle-class Protestant household in Berlin . He completed an apprenticeship as a retail salesman in Stettin and then worked as a clerk until he was drafted into the Reich Labor Service of the Wehrmacht on April 1, 1939 . From 1941 until the German surrender on May 8, 1945, Hoffmann served as a soldier in the war against the Soviet Union and then fell into a four-year Soviet captivity. In a prisoner-of-war camp in Riga , he met a German-Baltic , whose tattoo on his left forearm fascinated him. He became a fatherly friend for Hoffmann and wore the old seafaring motif "Faith-Love-Hope" .

Career as a tattoo artist

After his return to Germany in 1949 he worked as an advertising agent in Wiesbaden and Düsseldorf. At the same time he started to get a tattoo. In memory of the navigator from Riga, he chose the same motif in the same place. On his professional travels through Germany and Europe, he had himself tattooed by Christian Warlich in Hamburg, Tatovör Ole from Copenhagen and Albert Conelissen in Rotterdam , among others . At the same time he discovered his own talent for the tattoo trade, went to Christian Warlich as an apprentice and practiced with hand needles on numerous interested parties until he finally turned his passion into a profession.

A work on Manfred Kohrs by Herbert Hoffmann 1975

The attempt to set up a self-employed tattoo studio in Düsseldorf in 1960 failed because he did not get a business license. The rejection was justified with “This is not a job!”. In 1961 he bought the tattoo shop from Paul Holzhaus at Hamburger Berg 8 on St. Pauli . After Christian Warlich's death in 1964, Hoffmann temporarily had the only professional tattoo shop in Hamburg, which he named the oldest tattoo parlor in Germany .

In 1963 Hoffmann was a guest at Robert Lembke's “ What am I? ".

Herbert Hoffmann tried to make tattoos socially acceptable, but he categorically rejected an initiative taken in 1977 by the tattoo artist Manfred Kohrs from Hanover to found a German association of 14 professional tattooists at the time. In 1980 Hoffmann bought a house in Heiden in Appenzell , transferred his business to an employee and in 1981 moved with his partner Jakob Adler to Heiden / Switzerland.

Hoffmann's grave in Heiden 2018

In the mid-1990s, the tattoo scene experienced a boom and tattoo conventions were also attended by non-tattooed people and families. Herbert Hoffmann was often invited to events as a guest of honor.

It came to a collaboration with the tattoo magazine, in which Hoffmann published a monthly column . In 2008 the Huber Verlag , in which the tattoo magazine appears, brought out his old motif panels together with Herbert Hoffmann as an illustrated book under the title “Herbert Hoffmann Tattooing - Traditional Tattoo Motifs”.

Until shortly before his death, Hoffmann traveled to tattoo conventions . Hoffmann died on June 30, 2010 in Heiden / Switzerland.

Hoffmann bequeathed his extensive estate to the Appenzell Ausserrhoden Cantonal Library in Trogen .

Hoffmann as a photographer

From 1961 he created professional photographic work in his Hamburg tattoo studio. Herbert Hoffmann used a Rolleiflex to portray almost 400 tattooed people, born between 1878 and 1952, within three decades .

His photographic work has been represented by the Galerie Gebr. Lehmann since 2004.

“The portraits are staged with great formal care and seriousness. The result is the image of a subculture that has its roots in the gay scene and among seafarers and dock workers, but goes far beyond that. "

- Elke Buhr, monopoly magazine 2018

Solo exhibitions

  • 2019: Herbert Hoffmann , Overbeck Society, Lübeck
  • 2018: Art on the body Art Halle Sankt Gallen, St. Gallen
  • 2018: It's itching under the fur again , Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen , St. Gallen
  • 2013: Herbert Hoffmann , Malkasten Artists' Association, Düsseldorf
  • 2011: Herbert Hoffmann , Galerie Susanne Zander, Cologne
  • 2010: St. Pauli Souvenirs , Galerie Gebr. Lehmann, Berlin
  • 2010: Living Pictures , Ten Haaf Projects, Amsterdam
  • 2006: Under the Skin - Photography and Tattoo Art by Herbert Hoffmann , Museum für Völkerkunde Dresden
  • 2004: Faith - Love - Hope , Gallery Gebr. Lehmann, Dresden

Group exhibitions

  • 2019: Tattoo , Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
  • 2019: Photography , Gallery Gebr. Lehmann, Dresden

Others

The German-Swiss documentary “Flammend 'Herz” by Andrea Schuler and Oliver Ruts tells the story of Herbert Hoffmann, among other things.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Herbert Hoffmann, legend of tattoo art, turns ninety
  2. ↑ Meili Dschen: Herbert Hoffmann: Impressive pioneering achievement. In: observer.ch. September 29, 2003, accessed September 3, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b Nicola Kuhrt: Tattoo-Kunst - Meister des Körperstichs in: Der Spiegel from August 30, 2003
  4. ↑ einestages.spiegel.de: That gets under your skin!
  5. ↑ Nina Hofer: The anchor. Herbert Hoffmann (1919–2010): One of the pioneers of tattooing died Wednesday in Switzerland. ( Memento of the original from July 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on: fm4.orf.at of July 2, 2010 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / fm4.orf.at
  6. ↑ Cf. Frank-Peter Finke-Oltmanns, Tattoos in modern societies, dissertation 1996.
  7. ^ Herbert Hoffmann - In Memoriam at United European Tattoo Artists, accessed on July 30, 2010
  8. ↑ pressuremagazine of July 2, 2010: Herbert Hoffmann: Father of the tattoo died at the age of 91
  9. ↑ New book publication: Herbert Hoffmann Tattooing - traditional tattoo motifs ( Memento of the original from May 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dailynet.de
  10. ↑ news.ch of July 1, 2010: Tattoo legend Herbert Hoffmann has died
  11. ↑ Nathalie Grand: Heiden honors start tattooists. In: tagblatt.ch. April 6, 2011, accessed September 3, 2018 .
  12. ^ Michaela Stuhlmann and René Schmalz: Kursaal Heiden - Herbert Hoffmann. In: arttv.ch. May 24, 2011, accessed September 3, 2018 .
  13. ↑ Herbert Hoffmann. Retrieved June 5, 2018 (German).
  14. ^ Gallery Gebr. Lehmann / Herbert Hoffmann. Accessed June 5, 2018 .
  15. ^ Elke Buhr: Tattoo artist Herbert Hoffmann in St. Gallen - art on the body. In: monopol-magazin.de. March 6, 2018, accessed September 3, 2018 .
  16. ↑ Tattoo legend Herbert Hoffmann dead at volksblatt.li, accessed on July 30, 2010
personal data
SURNAME Hoffmann, Herbert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German tattoo artist and photographer
DATE OF BIRTH December 30, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Freienwalde in Pomerania
DATE OF DEATH June 30, 2010
Place of death Heiden , Switzerland