CLASSIC PAUL ROGERS ORIGINAL 1950-60-s HAND PAINTED OLD SCHOOL TATTOO FLASH

Description

Own a priceless authentic piece of early American tattoo history with this
original hand-painted flash sheet is from world renowned tattoo legend Paul Rogers.
T
his beautiful original vintage tattoo flash sheet is a one-of-a-kind example of classic American tattoo art,
Painted in the early 1960s
, this one-of-a-kind original flash sheet by one of tattoo history's most iconic figures comes from the extensive collection of world famous tattoo artist, Jonathan Shaw. It is part of the renowned archives of classic tattoo artwork being featured in Shaw's acclaimed book series "Vintage Tattoo Flash" published on Powerhouse Books.
Signed copies of Jonathan Shaw's VINTAGE TATTOO FLASH books can be ordered here:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/254067720569
https://www.ebay.com/itm/254092585542
Read more about the Jonathan Shaw Collection of Vintage Tattoo Flash online.
This classic original flash sheet is painted on extra heavy stock professional illustration board. It
measures aprox. 8" x 15" and comes with a hand-written letter of authenticity from Shaw, upon request.
More about the legendary tattoo history of Paul Rogers:
Paul Rogers was born on September 9th 1905 in North Carolina, and spent most of his childhood moving from one cotton mill town to the next. Paul started to work in the mills when he was only 13 years old, long before child labor laws were enacted. "Nothing but hardship, man it was hard for everyone." Paul worked in the cotton mills until he was 37 years old. Thankfully, his last years in the mills were part time, because in 1926 when Paul was 21, he got his first tattoo and found his lifetime occupation.
Only two years later he was tattooing with a kit he mail ordered from E.J. Miller in Norfolk, Virginia. In 1932 after tattooing all the folks around his home, Paul hit the road with the J.J. Page Show in search of adventure and clean skin. Later that very same year, Paul joined the John T. Rea Happyland Show where he met and married the boss's daughter, Helen Gensamer. For most of the next decade Paul and Helen worked the carnival circuit in the summers and worked in the cotton mills during the winters.
In 1942 when Paul got a chance to tattoo in Charleston, South Carolina, he jumped at it. At this time his pay envelope from the mill for a 40-hour workweek was , which was the biggest payday he ever had in the mills.
After getting his shop up and rolling, Paul now was making 0 to 0 a week! Needless to say, Paul never went back to the mills. In 1945 Paul began a 5 years association with Cap Coleman of Norfolk, Virginia. Coleman was already a legend in the tattoo world and Paul said it was like a dream come true to be invited to work with Coleman. Paul stayed in Norfolk until 1950, when the city fathers shut down tattooing in that city. Coleman moved across the Elizabeth River to Portsmouth, Virginia and tattooed for a few more years.
Paul and Lathan Connelly opened shops in Petersburg, Virginia and Jacksonville, North Carolina. In 1955 when Paul grew tired of traveling between these shops, he took the Jacksonville location and Connelly took the Petersburg shop. This is where the mail order supply business of Spaulding & Rogers was formed. Paul was involved in this business for only a couple of years, but Paul and Huck Spaulding worked together in Jacksonville up until 1961. In 1960 they closed their shop on Courts Street and went to Alaska. This only lasted for one month and they returned back to Jacksonville, North Carolina soon after.
From 1961 to 1963 Paul and his family lived in Camden, New Jersey where Paul tattooed with Sailor Eddie Evans. This is the place and period where Paul Rogers most likely painted this particular flash sheet, along with many others like it in the Jonathan Shaw collection. In 1963, he moved to Jacksonville, Florida and tattooed with Bill Williamson. The very next year Bill Williamson died and Paul inherited his shop. By 1970, Paul was back working in Jersey with Ernie Carafa on a part time basis.
In 1970 Paul and Helen Rogers bought a mobile home at 1200 Shetter Avenue #3 in Jacksonville, Florida. It was here that Paul brought his decades of experience together with what he had learned from the likes of Coleman, Bill Jones, Jack Wills, Charlie Barr and others, and built some of the best running tattoo machines in the business. In 1982 Helen, Paul's wife of 49 years, died. She was buried at the Greenlawn Cemetery in Portsmouth, Virginia. In 1983 Paul Rogers was admitted to the Tattoo Hall of Fame in San Francisco, California, which was part of the Tattoo Art Museum created by Lyle Tuttle.
Paul suffered a stroke at his home in Jacksonville in 1988 and never fully recovered. The next 2 years were spent in a nursing home in Jacksonville. Paul died in 1990, at the age of 84, after spending 56 years in the tattoo business. He was buried with his wife in Portsmouth, Virginia.
EARLY YEARS:
On September 9, 1905 Paul Rogers was born in a log cabin in the woods of Couches Creek, in the western part of North Carolina. He was the third of five children born to Belva and David Rogers. When he was just 5 years old, his father died. Two years later, when he was 7, he went to live with his grandfather who lived just a few miles away. His childhood memories were full of stories recalling both hard work and fun.
Paul got his first tattoo from Chet Cain, a circus/carnival tattooist who was working with the John Robinson Circus at that time. As the story often goes, Paul's first tattoo changed his life. Just 2 years later he mail-ordered his first tattooing machine from E.J. Miller of Norfolk, VA, and began his life-long career as a tattooist. Paul quickly ran out of clean skin in his small cotton mill town and hit the sawdust trail to make a living as a professional tattooist.
Paul joined the John T. Rea Happy Land Show and worked in the sideshow. This mud show traveled up and down the eastern seaboard, staying but a few days in each town before moving along. He signed on as the resident tattooist but got more than he bargained for when he met his future wife Helen on that sideshow platform. Not only was Helen a Hawaiian dancer and snake handler, she was also the boss's daughter!
In the winter months the carnival folks had to come off the road. For Paul, wintertime meant that he was back working in the cotton mills trying to keep the bills paid. This cycle went on until 1940s when Paul got an opportunity to tattoo full time in Charleston, South Carolina with F.A. Myers. He jumped at this chance and never looked back. In the early 1940s Paul's tattooing caught the eye of Cap Coleman in Norfolk, Virginia and Coleman offered Paul a job. At this time Coleman was considered one of the best tattooists in North America. Paul was thrilled at the opportunity to work with one of the greats and worked with Coleman from 1945 to 1950.
NOTE: Original antique tattoo flash sheets like the one shown here have been increasing in value at an extraordinary rate over the last 10 years. And with the growing interest in tattoo art in the mainstream art world, there is no end in sight - making this a very solid investment for the forward-thinking collector- not to mention its solid provenance.
Bottom line: there's only so much of this kind of priceless artwork in existence - and they ain't making no more! Soon enough they will all be unobtainable and sitting in museums.
All reasonable offers will be considered and responded to. Thank you!