288 pages Text(s) by Mikael de Poissy Foreword by Georges Vigarello Designed by Elisabetta Trevisan 29 x 22.5 cm Language: French Hardback Publisher: Le Seuil 2025
At the end of the eighteenth century, Western explorers set sail for distant lands and encountered cultures where tattooing was deeply woven into daily life. Sailors, fascinated by these mysterious practices, returned to France marked with indelible souvenirs. Some soon became professional “public tattooers,” setting up their trade first in port cities, then in urban centers across the country.
As tattooed bodies began to appear in traveling fairs and village markets, this once-exotic art found a home among the working classes and the underworld, earning the evocative nickname “Fleur de pavé”: the flower of the street. The human body became a living canvas for pain, rebellion, and melancholy.
From the brothels and circuses of the nineteenth century to the prisons of the penal colonies and the lights of early cinema, Histoire du Tatouage en France de 1770 à 1960 traces the extraordinary evolution of tattooing in French society; its symbolism, stigmas, and transformations.
Written by Mikael de Poissy, internationally acclaimed tattoo artist and historian, this book sheds light on the forgotten roots of French tattoo culture. De Poissy, known for his unique stained-glass style and medieval-inspired imagery, is also the founder of the French Tattoo Museum and the first tattoo artist ever to be inducted as Commander into the Académie des Arts-Sciences-Lettres.
