The Tattoosday Book Review: Painted Bodies

As regular readers may now, we occasionally review tattoo-related books here on Tattoosday. We're going to try and make this a regular Saturday occasion as we enter the colder weather and try to make our summer backlog last as long as possible.<br /><br />Today's book is <span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0847834050/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0847834050&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3EPainted%20Bodies:%20African%20Body%20Painting,%20Tattoos,%20and%20Scarification%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0847834050%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E">Painted Bodies: African Body Painting, Tattoos, and Scarification</a> by the award-winning photographers Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.rizzoliusa.com/catalog/covers_450/9780847834051.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://www.rizzoliusa.com/catalog/covers_450/9780847834051.jpg" width="484" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Published by Rizzoli, this beautiful book offers up large and colorful photos <i>en masse - </i>highlighting a wide range and variety of body art adorning African tribes. I will concede, the 288 pages of mostly full-page photographs are specific to body paint, there is one chapter that focuses on tattoos and scarification.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">That said, this is not the book for someone looking for an expose on African tattooing. However, I paged through this volume transfixed, amazed at the simple beauty of the patterns and color utilized by the tribal artists documented with great respect for its subjects.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Beckwith and Fisher have been photographing the indigenous people of Africa for decades and have produced several volumes over the years that have celebrated the diversity of cultures on that continent.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">This large coffee table-sized book, which retails for US$100.00, but is discounted through Amazon.com, at least at the time of this writing, takes great care to not only document the different body-painting styles of numerous tribes, but to also describe in chapter prefaces, the processes and cultural significance of the techniques.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://events.nationalgeographic.com/media/images/photos/BeckwithFisher4-dl__jpg_610x343_crop_upscale_q85.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="356" src="http://events.nationalgeographic.com/media/images/photos/BeckwithFisher4-dl__jpg_610x343_crop_upscale_q85.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"In order to attract females, Karo men decorate themselves lavishly using clays and pigments found naturally in the Omo River region..."    <span style="background-color: #efefe5; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: start;">© Carol Beckwith & Angela Fisher, 2012</span></td></tr></tbody></table>Although technically not a tattoo book, I still believe this would be a valuable addition to anyone's library, whether it is utilized as a sourcebook and inspiration for artists looking to the roots of body art, or as an appreciation of one section of humanity's embrace of the earth and human expression.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJxgkdkw5FHjfbZ7TK1Wn_wkcxQ1IPKMQBKlwZNJRtQWaTin09EXy_yMWLhY6LRrDAm5JBhF3_ysLtbq5kqv3VjKAKQ5h6o1i8RKbn7i0SMBzpK4MM6wJgdeGNVP_GmKjU_jPL6dHNPI4/s1600/woodabe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJxgkdkw5FHjfbZ7TK1Wn_wkcxQ1IPKMQBKlwZNJRtQWaTin09EXy_yMWLhY6LRrDAm5JBhF3_ysLtbq5kqv3VjKAKQ5h6o1i8RKbn7i0SMBzpK4MM6wJgdeGNVP_GmKjU_jPL6dHNPI4/s400/woodabe.jpg" width="296" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #efefe5; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: start;">"A proud Wodaabe female from Niger is easily identified by a combination of tattoos that mark her forehead, cheeks, and the corners of her lips, along with face paint that emphasizes her aquiline nose and high cheekbones." © Carol Beckwith & Angela Fisher, 2012</span></td></tr></tbody></table>I would recommend, if anyone is interested in the work of these photographers, to head over to <a href="http://events.nationalgeographic.com/events/speakers-bureau/speaker/beckwith-fisher/">this National Geographic website</a>, where one can learn more about Beckwith and Fisher, and see more of their amazing photos.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bill03-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=0847834050" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.5950935201253742" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This review is ©2012 Tattoosday. All images and excerpts are </span><b id="internal-source-marker_0.5950935201253742" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">©2012 Carol Beckwith & Angela Fisher.</span></b><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you are reading this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit</span><a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.</span></span></b></div>

The Tattoosday Book Review: Painted Bodies

As regular readers may now, we occasionally review tattoo-related books here on Tattoosday. We're going to try and make this a regular S...

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