The enigmatic Rich Mingins -- "a very quiet man,
smoking all the time. He used to tattoo while seated on
a little bench in the back room of his house at 59
Redfern Road, Harleston, in London, while his wife
busied herself in the kitchen. There was no flash on the
wall, just a book on the table and on the side of his
bench he had a roll of paper towel, actually a toilet
roll. It was a small room. You had to wait outside. You
could not go in until someone came out". "There is not
much to tell about Rich Mingins" recalls George Bone,
whose body is adorned with examples of Mingins' work.
Tattoo artist George Bone is one of the few surviving
people with tattoos by Mingins, who was an enigmatic man
about whom very little is known. Bone: When he was doing
his tattoos, he actually never spoke. His work spoke for
itself'. And that it did. Mingins' work was extremely
popular in his time. "His artistic work and custom
designs were of high quality, and really stood apart
from work of other tattoo artists", states Bone, "I had
the impression, perhaps mistakenly, that he was the type
of man who would say no to an interview, so it's not
surprising that so little is known about him".Minigins'
scrapbooks convey a beautiful overview of the world of
tattoos and attitudes towards them during the first half
of the twentieth century. |
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