Peaux tatouées comme œuvres d’art et objets de collection : enjeux éthiques et légaux

In 1952, Roald Dahl published Skin, a macabre short story about a man tattooed in his youth by the artist Chaïm Soutine. Soutine, now old and penniless, ends up sacrificed after showing his tattoo to art lovers eager to make a profit from it. Looking at some of the works and collections of tattooed skin around the world, reality seems to have since caught up with fiction. Two art projects have been directly inspired by Dahl’s story: Chaïm Soutine (2004) in England and Skin (2011) in the United States. They are based on the involvement of volunteers willing to offer their bodies to artists who use them as living canvases on which to ink their drawings. Through an analysis of this transition from literary narrative to genuine artistic projects, the aim of this article is to highlight the ethical and legal issues involved in exhibiting, conserving, buying and selling works whose medium is the human body.