12 Facts About Samuel Steward

Samuel Steward lived most of his adult life in Chicago, where he tattooed sailor-trainees from the US Navy's Great Lakes Naval Training Station out of a tattoo parlor on South State Street.

Samuel Steward later moved to the San Francisco Bay area, where he spent the late 1960s as the official tattoo artist of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.

Samuel Steward taught English at OSU from 1932 until 1934 as a university fellow.

Samuel Steward subsequently moved to Chicago, where he taught at Loyola University until 1946.

Samuel Steward gained an introduction to Gertrude Stein in 1932 through his academic advisor Clarence Andrews, and so began a long correspondence with Stein which resulted in a warm friendship.

Samuel Steward paid visits to her rented country home in France during the summers of 1937 and 1939.

Samuel Steward described his friendship with Stein and Alice B Toklas in his Dear Sammy: Letters from Gertrude Stein and Alice B Toklas.

Samuel Steward ultimately donated large numbers of drawings, paintings and decorative objects that he himself had created to the Institute.

Samuel Steward in turn mentored Cliff Ingram, aka Cliff Raven, and Don "Ed" Hardy, later known simply as Ed Hardy, encouraging both to practice the Japanese-style tattooing he himself most admired.

Samuel Steward died at the age of 84 in Berkeley, California.

In 2012 Samuel Steward was inducted into the Leather Hall of Fame.

Samuel Steward was honored in 2017 along with other notables, named on bronze bootprints, as part of San Francisco South of Market Leather History Alley.