Sailor Jerry

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Sailor Jerry (real name: Norman Keith Collins ) (born January 14, 1911 in Reno (Nevada) - † June 12, 1973 ) was an American tattoo artist , teacher of Don Ed Hardy and Mike Malone .

Life

Collins was born on January 14, 1911 in Reno, Nevada . He is considered America's leading tattoo artist of his time. There the tattoo craft is even divided into the eras “BSJ” and “ASJ”: “Before Sailor Jerry” and “After Sailor Jerry”. Jerry Collins contributed more to the tattoo art there than any other tattoo artist. He learned how to tattoo “Big Mike” from Palmer , Alaska and Gib “Tatts” Thomas from Chicago . At the age of 19, Collins joined the United States Navy. Sailor Jerry remained a sailor all his life. Artistically he was influenced on the one hand by his soldier attitude as an American seafarer and on the other hand by the mysticism and technical skills of the Far East. During his career as a tattoo artist, he also worked as a licensed captain of a large three-masted schooner on which he took tours of the Hawaiian Islands.

Collins expands the range of colors by developing his own pigments . He developed needle formations that brought the embedded pigments into the skin with less risk of injury and was one of the first tattoo artists to use disposable needles and sterilization devices. He saw tattoos as the ultimate rebellion. In his Honolulu studio , he refined the fat-line style he learned from Horihide in Japan . Collins taught Ed Hardy and Mike Malone how to tattoo.

Norman Collins is buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific , a military cemetery in Punchbowl Crater , Honolulu. Mike Malone took over Sailor Jerry's tattoo studio after his death.

Sailor Jerry Ltd.

A bottle of Sailor Jerry's Spiced Navy Rum

In 1999 Hardy and Malone founded Sailor Jerry Ltd. and produced clothing and a collection of other items, such as ashtrays, sneakers, playing cards, keys, and shot glasses.

Sailor Jerry Ltd. produces a 40 percent Navy rum with a hula girl designed by Sailor Jerry on the label. When the bottle is empty, other pin-up girls designed by him are visible on the inside of the label . The rum is distilled in the Virgin Islands .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dennis Hevesi: Michael Malone, 64, Who Drew Tattoos With Flash and Flourish, Is Dead. In: nytimes.com. April 30, 2007, accessed March 5, 2016 .
  2. ↑ tattoo-evaluation.de accessed on February 22, 2012.
  3. ^ Albert L. Morse: The Tattoists. 1st edition. 1977, pp. 106-107.
  4. ↑ tattoo-evaluation.de accessed on February 22, 2012.
  5. ↑ Marcel Feige : Tattoo and Piercing Lexicon - Cult and Culture of Body Art. Pp. 86-87.
  6. ^ Nic Compton: Why Sailors Can't Swim and Other Marvelous Maritime Curiosities. A&C Black 2013, ISBN 1-408-1926-40 , p. 10.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Jerry, sailor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Collins, Norman Keith (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American tattoo artist
DATE OF BIRTH January 14, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Reno (Nevada)
DATE OF DEATH June 12, 1973