Maud Stevens Wagner

Maud Wagner: Tattooed Trailblazer of the American Sideshow

The true story of Maud Wagner—contortionist, aerial artist, carnival performer, 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 of her own making. An acrobat, she exuded an athletic strength as an aerial artist and contortionist. In the early 20th century, …