Lew the Jew and His Circle: Origins of American Tattoo

Albert Kurzman (1880-1954) aka Lew the Jew was one of America s most influential tattoo artists at the beginning of the 20th century. Operating primarily on New York's Bowery, Lew constructed some of the earliest electric tattoo machines, and was the first to design and market printed design sheets to other tattooers. His artwork in these flash displays codified the repertoire of American tattooing, and many are still in use today

The exhibition includes previously unpublished and rare original tattoo artwork, photos, and correspondence between Lew and San Francisco tattooers “Brooklyn Joe” Lieber and C. J. ”Pop” Eddy. 

Don Ed Hardy is one of San Francisco’s treasures—an artist, a legendary retired tattoo designer, an expert on the history of tattooing, and a writer, curator and publisher of many books on tattoo and related topics. He has published a book titled “Lew the Jew" Alberts: Early 20th Century Tattoo Drawings, and this exhibition is inspired by that book.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.      

The book that inspired the exhibit, "Lew the Jew" Alberts: Early 20th Century Tattoo Drawings, documents this amazing man and presents over 150 drawings. Included in these is correspondence between Al and two of his closest confidants, San Francisco Bay Area tattooers Brooklyn Joe Lieber and C.J. Pop Eddy. These candid fragments provide a vivid sense of a hardboiled, secretive world. Additional business cards, vintage tattoo photographs, and previously unknown biographical data illuminate the then-shadowy business of skin art. This material laid the ground for the avalanche of tattooing that permeates the world today. The original creator of tattoo "flash" was largely unknown. Now a private collection of works by this Jewish tattooer from New York, "Lew the Jew" Alberts, has come to light. Around 1905 he was the first to make these design sheets commercially available. His previously unpublished and rare original tattoo artwork is being published as a tattoo flash collection for the first time.

Select  "Lew the Jew" Alberts: Early 20th Century Tattoo Drawings to learn more, or to place this book in your Amazon shopping cart. Your Amazon purchase through this link generates a small commission that will help to fund the ArtGeek.art search engine.