Thames & Hudson Russian Criminal Tattoo Archive

It was exactly what I was expecting. It read more like a text book and was very dry.

This book is larger in format than the other 3 tattoo encyclopedias (that I own and love), allowing for reproduction of the original ink drawings by the former Soviet prison guard, Danzig Baldaev. These are on sheets of paper, sometimes 1 image, sometimes 12 or 15 on a sheet, this works well – at this scale the artistry and intricate detail of the drawings can be fully appreciated, displaying his amazing skill as a self-taught draftsman.Seeing them like this gives a very different idea of the circumstances and lifetime over which they had been recorded – a process that is touched on in a detailed introduction about Baldaev's life and career in the prison system. The book deep dives into the multiple meanings behind each tattoo, these are fascinatingly complex, often relating to Russian and Soviet history, the Gulag, and of course their relevance within the prison system itself.Alongside the drawings are photographs of prisoners by Sergei Vasiliev, these include some amazing color images (photos in the rest of the series were in black and white). In addition, pages from the albums of Arkady Bronnikov, a KGB criminologist, show a rogues gallery of criminals photographed using a more basic – but nonetheless chilling – approach for police purposes.Overall this book feels like a substantial addition to the rest of the series. Just when you thought it couldn't get any darker, the cell door swings open to reveal further depths of squalid menace. [It should go without saying that this book is an uncensored reflection of the subject matter, so much of the material is unambiguously explicit.]

Fuel non sbaglia mai, tra brutalismo..tatuaggi, etc etc....che dire, DA AVERE PER AMANTI DEL GENERE!