The Mingins Photo Collection
‘A very quiet man, smoking all the time. He used to tattoo while seated on a little bench in the back room of his house at 59 Redfern Road, Harleston, in London, while his wife busied herself in the kitchen. There was no flash on the wall, just a book on the table and on the side of his bench he had a roll of paper towel, actually a toilet roll. It was a small room. You had to wait outside. You could not go in until someone came out.’
‘There’s not much to tell about Rich Mingins,’ recalls George Bone, whose body is adorned with examples of Mingins’ work. Tattoo artist George Bone is one of the few surviving people with tattoos by Mingins, who was an enigmatic man about whom very little is known. Bone: ‘When he was doing his tattoos, he actually never spoke. His work spoke for itself.’
And that it did. Mingins’ work was extremely popular in his time. ‘His artistic work and custom designs were of high quality, and really stood apart from work of other tattoo artists,’ states Bone, ‘I had the impression, perhaps mistakenly, that he was the type of man who would say no to an interview, so it’s not surprising that so little is known about him.'
Here is a little preview of the book, it's for sale in our museumshop. Our webshop is under construction but if you are interested please mail
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Comments for 'The Mingins Photo Collection'
hi i am the great neice of rich mingins, i would like to no if the book has been published in melbourne australia, or where i can buy it thanks!
Hello Fiona, great to hear from you! Please mail your email to us so we can contact you directly: .
Cheers, Annemarie