Help me find this old Kewpie tattoo!

January 7, 2008 12:12 PM

Please help me find a Kewpie tattoo from the 40s/50s!

My friend wants to have a tattoo of a Kewpie doll replicated that his grandfather got when he was about 15 years old. The tattoo is flash art that his grandfather "picked off the wall" at a tattoo parlor, and it was a very popular tattoo at the time, so his thought is that the art must exist somewhere. The problem with using pictures of the tattoo on his grandfather is that it has faded almost beyond the point of recognition, and we cannot find anything that is very close online. Pictures of the tattoo can be found here: one, two and three. He wants to replicate the tattoo as close to how it looked when his grandfather first got it as possible. Any suggestions on where we might find the art or a similar, clearer picture of this tattoo on another person would be greatly appreciated.

posted by fabesfaves to media & arts (4 comments total)

What about doing something like this? I took this image and flipped it, removed the bow, and moved the arms. You could manipulate any kewpie image to get that generic pose.
posted by iconomy at 12:36 PM on January 7, 2008

If it was me, I'd do a Google image search for 'kewpie,' with an eye toward finding images that are close to the design on Grandpa's arm. Print them out, along with the photos of Gramps' tattoo, then take them to a tattoo artist and explain what you want.

(If you can't find what you want w/the Google image search, there are also a few collectors' guides aimed at Kewpie fans.)
posted by box at 12:49 PM on January 7, 2008

In the book _1000 Tattoos_ edited by Henk Schiffmacher and Burkhard Riemschneider (ISBN 3-8228-1332-X) there is a 1940's boxing kewpie tatooed on the right thigh of the woman pictured on page 240. It may not be what you want, but you might want to toss it into the mix when you do what box suggests.
posted by onhazier at 1:05 PM on January 7, 2008

The Book Mistress is a seller of vintage and hard to find books of tattoo art, and she's something of a historian when it comes to flash artwork.

She may be able to help you. Her email address is on her web page.
posted by toxic at 3:44 PM on January 7, 2008