Art&DesignSpring2025

ALSO AVAILABLE ISBN: 978-0-7643-6930-8 Size: 11" x 8 1/2" (279 x 216 mm) Pages: 128 Price: $34.99 USD, £31.99, 48.99 CAD Illustrations: 120+ color and b/w images Binding: hardcover BISAC: ART / Body Art & Tattooing ART / Women Artists ART / Popular Culture Maud Stevens Wagner Mona Lisa of American Tattoo By Alan Govenar The true story of Maud Wagner—contortionist, aerial artist, carnival performer and barker, wife, and mother—who defied Victorian-era conventions to blaze her own trail Maud Stevens Wagner, the “Mona Lisa of American tattoo,” was an ardent individualist who left home at a young age to pursue a career as a carnival performer, a contortionist, a tattoo model, and an aerialist. She was a thoroughly modern woman who asserted her independence and her own identity. Maud and her husband, Gus (known as the “most artisticallymarked- up man in America”), traveled the country as the Wagner’s Traveling Museum, exhibiting themselves and making tattoos around the US. This book is the second in the series Last of the Hand Tattoo Artists, detailing the lives of Gus, Maud, and their daughter, Lotteva. Author Alan Govenar brings you Maud’s story with • Lotteva Wagner’s oral history, • clippings and photographs from Gus Wagner’s scrapbooks, • the Wagners’ tattoo flash, and • newspaper articles and obituaries. As the author said, “In one sense, Gus and Maud challenged all expectations, but in another, they embodied and celebrated the can- do spirit intrinsic to American life.” About the Author Alan Govenar is an award-winning writer, folklorist, photographer, and filmmaker. He founded Documentary Arts, a nonprofit organization advancing perspectives on historical issues and diverse cultures. Govenar is a Guggenheim fellow and the author of over 30 books. He lives in Dallas, Texas. ISBN 978-0-7643-6930-8 NEOCLASSICAL TATTOO FLASH 978-0-7643-6397-9 112 pp. | 11" x 8 1/2" (279 x 216 mm) | HC $34.99 USD, £31.99, 48.99 CAD GUS WAGNER 978-0-7643-6728-1 128 pp. | 11" x 8 1/2" (279 x 216 mm) | HC $34.99 USD, £31.99, 48.99 CAD AVAILABLE MAY 2025 UK PUB DATE JULY 2025 30 | NEW THIS SEASON