Vintage Bernard Kobel Tattoo Picture, (Photograph), Traditional Tattoo, Tattooed Man.
Picture Includes: Tattooed Man, (Traditional, Old School Tattoo), Black And White Photo.
This is a 4'X6" (inches) Black And White Photo, Of A Tattooed Man with Traditional Tattoo's.
These Items Are High Quality Reproductions! NOT ORIGINAL.
Giclee Print, Using Archival Ink On High Quality Gloss Photo Paper.
These would be great for display in any Tattoo Shop, Or Any Vintage Photo, Postcard, Or Tattoo Collection!
The Great Omi was one of the most
popular showmen of his time. He was tattooed over much of his body
including his head and face, which had bold black zebra-like stripes.
Sometimes referred to as the "Zebra Man", Horace Ridler, (his real
name) was born in Surrey, England around 1882 to a wealthy family. He
served twice in the British Army as a commissioned officer, but left
the military after the First World War, at the rank of major.
Ridler may have gotten some tattoos during his many years in the
British Army, but in 1922 Ridler decided that show business was his
life. He approached a tattooist who claimed to be Chinese and started
turning himself into a tattoo attraction. This early tattooing was
rather crude, but Ridler was able to make a modest living at music hall
and fairgrounds
But Horace Ridler had bigger plans! In 1927 he first visited
London's famed tattooist, George Burchett, with a plan that would
transform him into the greatest modern tattoo attraction in the world.
After much discussion and written approval from both Horace and his
wife Gladys, Burchett took on the work.
The design of the wide black stripes would cover his old work and,
by Burchett's account, 150 hours later Horace Ridler became The Great
Omi. As soon as the tattoo work was completed the job offers rolled in
from Bertram Mills Circus, Robert Ripley's "Believe It Or Not",
Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus and the Bellevue Circus, to
name a few. Gladys Ridler worked with her husband and became the
Omette, introducing the Great Omi to the audiences of the world.
As the years wore on the Omi's appearance became more and more
outrageous. He took to wearing lipstick and nail polish and signed his
pitch cards, "Barbaric Beauty". Despite his appearance, "underneath it all, I'm just an ordinary man," he insisted shortly before his death in 1965. -Tattoo Archive.
Bernard Lyle Kobel lived a very full life during in his 79 years. He was a Lone Scout, photographer, photojournalist, writer, stamp collector, cartoonist, poet, World War II Army veteran and more. His parents started a mail-order business, which he took over, selling photographs of all sorts of unusual subjects, including odd houses, freak animals and vegetables, unusual epitaphs, women weight lifters and tattooed people. The tattooed people collection numbered over 1700 photographs. - Tattoo Archive.