- Want more images or videos?Request additional images or videos from the seller
Don Ed HardyBig Top1995
1995

About
Details
- Creator
- Creation Year1995
- DimensionsHeight: 30 in. (76.2 cm)Width: 22 in. (55.88 cm)
- Medium
- Movement & Style
- Period
- Condition
- Gallery LocationLyons, CO
- Reference Number1stDibs: LU32423376141
Shipping & Returns
- ShippingRates vary by destination and complexity. We recommend this shipping type based on item size, type and fragility.Ships From: Lyons, CO
- Return Policy
A return for this item may be initiated within 14 days of delivery.
About Don Ed Hardy (Artist)
In the world of art and fashion crossovers, there likely isn’t a more polarizing figure than Don Ed Hardy (b. 1945), a talented artist whose reputation as a tattoo master was blemished by the adoption of his work into a controversial fashion line. But there’s much more to Hardy’s story than the clothing — it begins with his revolutionizing the tattoo industry and ends with a bout of artistic redemption.
Born in Newport Beach, California, Hardy displayed an aptitude for drawing at a young age; he would go on to earn a degree in printmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute, where he took illustration classes under the likes of Bay Area figurative painters such as Joan Brown. But rather than pursue a career as a fine artist, Hardy turned to tattooing as his main form of expression, studying under tattoo legend “Sailor Jerry” Collins before traveling to Japan to learn from tattoo master Horihide. These two icons would influence Hardy’s style, which he would develop in his own shop.
Hardy’s first space, Realistic Tattoo Studio, opened in 1974. It was modeled after Japan’s premium tattoo parlors and was the first appointment-only tattoo studio in the United States. (Tattooing was less than low-brow in America at the time. New York City, for example, criminalized the act in the early 1960s, and the law remained in place for the ensuing decades.) Hardy would go on to create elaborate, sprawling back and chest pieces for his private clients and soon opened an additional public studio called Tattoo City. The artist garnered recognition for his work in the academic community, earned the Tattoo Artist of the Year award at the World Tattoo Convention in Houston in 1979, and by 1982, he was copublishing books on tattooing. Hardy played a major role in changing the public’s perception of tattooing from something that had been relegated to the margins to mainstream body art.
Of course, that shift in perception would ultimately lead to Hardy’s licensing of his work in 2003 to fashion magnate Christian Audigier of lifestyle apparel brand Von Dutch fame. Audigier plastered Hardy’s drawings across flamboyant hooded sweatshirts, which found a niche among quite a few controversial celebrities, including cast members of American reality-television series — this tainted the brand with a negative connotation. Some turned against Hardy, decrying Audigier’s apparel as gaudy and tasteless.
“People began globally to know my images, my name and my signature, but they didn’t know there was a real person behind it,” Hardy told CNN. Hardy and Audigier’s partnership ended in a settlement after a court battle in 2009.
Hardy has returned to the world of fine art, with galleries, museums and collectors lauding his drawings and paintings. In 2019, Hardy became the subject of a retrospective at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. Although he retired from tattooing in 2008, he still works closely with Tattoo City, which is currently managed by his son, Doug.
Find Don Ed Hardy’s richly illustrated prints and more at 1stDibs.

- By Don Ed HardyLocated in Lyons, COColor lithograph, Edition 30 Don Ed Hardy is a painter, printmaker and tattoo artist. Fascinated by tattoos s...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary More Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- By Don Ed HardyLocated in Lyons, COColor lithograph, Edition 25. In Man’s Ruin, a wolf is portrayed as a nurse, two iconic images often seen in ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary More Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- By Don Ed HardyLocated in Lyons, COColor lithograph, Edition 30. In "Ink is King", an Oni (a Japanese folklore demon) is seen riding a koi fish ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary More Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- By Don Ed HardyLocated in Lyons, COColor lithograph, Edition 20. Don Ed Hardy’s lithographs “Storm Dragon” and “Sea Dragon” continue his lifelong ...Category
Early 2000s Contemporary More Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- By Don Ed HardyLocated in Lyons, COColor lithograph with collage, Edition 20. The artist describes this project: "My recent collaboration with Bu...Category
2010s Contemporary More Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- By Don Ed HardyLocated in Lyons, COColor lithograph, Edition 15. Don Ed Hardy is a painter, printmaker and tattoo artist. Fascinated by tattoos si...Category
1990s Contemporary More Prints
MaterialsLithograph
You May Also Like
1960s Contemporary More Prints
Lithograph
2010s Contemporary More Prints
Lithograph
1960s Contemporary Animal Prints
Lithograph
Early 2000s Contemporary Animal Prints
Lithograph
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Animal Prints
Cotton, Giclée
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Animal Prints
Cotton, Archival Ink, Archival Pigment
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Animal Prints
Gold Leaf
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Animal Prints
Screen
The 1stDibs Promise
Learn MoreExpertly Vetted Sellers
Confidence at Checkout
Price-Match Guarantee
Exceptional Support
Buyer Protection
Insured Global Delivery