Battleship Kate Tattooed Trade Figure

August Coleman (American, 1884–1973)

about 1935

Object PlaceNorfolk, VA

Medium/TechniqueInk and oil on papier-mâché, rayon, silver thread

DimensionsHeight x width: 64.5 × 24.1 × 18.4 cm (25 3/8 × 9 1/2 × 7 1/4 in.)

Credit LineFrank B. Bemis Fund, Morris and Louise Rosenthal Fund, John H. and Ernestine A. Payne Fund, Robert M. Rosenberg Family Fund, Susan Cornelia Warren Fund, Seth K. Sweetser Fund, and partial gift of Derin Bray

Accession number2020.263

On View

On view

ClassificationsSculpture

Collections

Americas

ProvenanceAbout 1950, sold by the artist [see note 1] to fellow tattoo artist Henry Brinegar (b. 1909 – d. 1989), Norfolk, VA and later Jefferson, IN [see note 2]. 1984/85, purchased at the Heart of Country show, Nashville, TN by Mike Goyda (antique dealer), Lancaster, PA in partnership with an unknown dealer; 1985/86, sold by Goyda at the Indy Antique Advertising Show, Indianapolis, IN to Alvin and Christine Schachter, Jackson, WI; August 10, 2014, American Furniture & Decorative Arts sale (2744M), Skinner Auctions, Marlborough, MA, lot 386, to David Wheatcroft (antiques dealer), Westborough, MA; 2017, sold by Wheatcroft to Derin Bray, American Art & Antiques, Portsmouth, NH; 2020, sold by Bray to the MFA. (Accession date: October 7, 2020)

NOTES:
[1] The figure appears in an unpublished image of Coleman's storefront window taken 1938-39 located in the National Geographic Magazine Archives.

[2] Beringar describes the figure in a letter to tattoo artist Lyle Tuttle dated March 26, 1965.