diff --git a/skimage/io/_io.py b/skimage/io/_io.py
index e76c36f6..2f957ac2 100644
--- a/skimage/io/_io.py
+++ b/skimage/io/_io.py
@@ -11,53 +11,7 @@ from ..exposure import is_low_contrast
 from .._shared._warnings import all_warnings
 
 
-__all__ = ['Image', 'imread', 'imread_collection', 'imsave', 'imshow', 'show']
-
-
-class Image(np.ndarray):
-    """Class representing Image data.
-
-    These objects have tags for image metadata and IPython display protocol
-    methods for image display.
-
-    Parameters
-    ----------
-    arr : ndarray
-        Image data.
-    kwargs : Image tags as keywords
-        Specified in the form ``tag0=value``, ``tag1=value``.
-
-    Attributes
-    ----------
-    tags : dict
-        Meta-data.
-
-    """
-
-    def __new__(cls, arr, **kwargs):
-        """Set the image data and tags according to given parameters.
-
-        """
-        x = np.asarray(arr).view(cls)
-        x.tags = kwargs
-
-        return x
-
-    def __array_finalize__(self, obj):
-        self.tags = getattr(obj, 'tags', {})
-
-    def _repr_png_(self):
-        return self._repr_image_format('png')
-
-    def _repr_jpeg_(self):
-        return self._repr_image_format('jpeg')
-
-    def _repr_image_format(self, format_str):
-        str_buffer = BytesIO()
-        imsave(str_buffer, self, format_str=format_str)
-        return_str = str_buffer.getvalue()
-        str_buffer.close()
-        return return_str
+__all__ = ['imread', 'imread_collection', 'imsave', 'imshow', 'show']
 
 
 def imread(fname, as_grey=False, plugin=None, flatten=None,
diff --git a/skimage/io/tests/test_image.py b/skimage/io/tests/test_image.py
deleted file mode 100644
index b74c973e..00000000
--- a/skimage/io/tests/test_image.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,33 +0,0 @@
-from io import BytesIO
-
-import numpy as np
-from skimage import img_as_ubyte
-from skimage.io import Image, imread
-
-from numpy.testing import assert_equal, assert_array_equal
-
-
-def test_tags():
-    f = Image([1, 2, 3], foo='bar', sigma='delta')
-    g = Image([3, 2, 1], sun='moon')
-    h = Image([1, 1, 1])
-
-    assert_equal(f.tags['foo'], 'bar')
-    assert_array_equal((g + 2).tags['sun'], 'moon')
-    assert_equal(h.tags, {})
-
-
-def test_repr_png_roundtrip():
-    # Use RGB-like shape since some backends convert grayscale to RGB
-    original_array = 255 * np.ones((5, 5, 3), dtype=np.uint8)
-    image = Image(original_array)
-    array = imread(BytesIO(image._repr_png_()))
-    # Force output to ubyte range for plugin compatibility.
-    # For example, Matplotlib will return floats even if the image is uint8.
-    assert_array_equal(img_as_ubyte(array), original_array)
-    # Note that PIL breaks with `_repr_jpeg_`.
-
-
-if __name__ == "__main__":
-    from numpy.testing import run_module_suite
-    run_module_suite()
diff --git a/skimage/io/tests/test_pil.py b/skimage/io/tests/test_pil.py
index 0e752da9..77957053 100644
--- a/skimage/io/tests/test_pil.py
+++ b/skimage/io/tests/test_pil.py
@@ -7,8 +7,7 @@ from numpy.testing import (
 from tempfile import NamedTemporaryFile
 
 from ... import data_dir
-from .. import (imread, imsave, use_plugin, reset_plugins,
-                        Image as ioImage)
+from .. import imread, imsave, use_plugin, reset_plugins
 from ..._shared.testing import mono_check, color_check
 from ..._shared._warnings import expected_warnings
 from ..._shared._tempfile import temporary_file
@@ -80,19 +79,6 @@ def test_imread_uint16():
     assert_array_almost_equal(img, expected)
 
 
-def test_repr_png():
-    img_path = os.path.join(data_dir, 'camera.png')
-    original_img = ioImage(imread(img_path))
-    original_img_str = original_img._repr_png_()
-
-    with NamedTemporaryFile(suffix='.png') as temp_png:
-        temp_png.write(original_img_str)
-        temp_png.seek(0)
-        round_trip = imread(temp_png)
-
-    assert np.all(original_img == round_trip)
-
-
 def test_imread_truncated_jpg():
     assert_raises((IOError, ValueError), imread,
                   os.path.join(data_dir, 'truncated.jpg'))