FIRESIDE CHAT: Loud, Naked, & in Three Colors: The Liberty Boys & the History of Tattooing in Boston

Through the complex, deeply human story of an iconic family of Boston tattooers, Loud, Naked, & in Three Colors forges a deeper understanding of the history of a vernacular art form and the folk who made a living from its subversive attractions.

From the 1910s until 1962, when Massachusetts banned tattooing statewide, Edward “Dad” Liberty and his three sons held a near-monopoly on the Boston tattoo scene from their shops in Scollay Square, the city’s gritty entertainment district. Over their lifetimes, the Liberty men accumulated an unmatched collection of hand-painted tattoo flash art, photographs, machines, shop signs, correspondence, ephemera, and family memorabilia. Loud, Naked, & in Three Colors brings together this evocative, sometimes eye-popping material to create a groundbreaking visual and narrative history of tattooing in Boston. It is an appealing work for general readers and tattoo enthusiasts, as well as a definitive resource for tattoo artists and historians of popular culture.

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