Maud Wagner: America's First Known Female Tattoo Artist

Today, women make up a large and growing part of the tattoo industry. More than a century ago, one woman helped open that door. Maud Wagner, a circus performer from Kansas, is the first known female tattoo artist in the United States, and her story is one of the most remarkable in tattoo history.

From Kansas to the circus

Maud Stevens was born on 12 February 1877 in Emporia, Kansas. As a young woman she built a career in travelling circuses as an aerialist and contortionist, performing daring acrobatics high above the ring at fairs and shows across the country.

At the turn of the 20th century, circuses and travelling shows were one of the few places heavily tattooed people could make a living, as "tattooed attractions" who displayed their bodies to paying crowds. That world would change the course of her life.

A date in exchange for a lesson

In 1904, Maud was working at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, the World's Fair in St. Louis. There she met Gus Wagner, a heavily tattooed tattoo artist who worked the fair and circus circuit.

Gus asked her on a date. As the story goes, Maud agreed on one condition: that he teach her to tattoo. She traded a date for a lesson, and it proved a good deal on both sides. The couple married, and Maud began tattooing and collecting tattoos of her own.

Tattooing by hand

By the early 1900s, electric tattoo machines had already been invented. Yet Maud and Gus became known as two of the last American tattoo artists to work entirely by hand, using needles to poke ink into the skin, a technique now called hand-poking or stick and poke.

Maud herself became heavily tattooed, with designs including animals, flowers, patriotic images and lettering. Photographs of her from the period, standing proudly with tattooed arms and body, remain some of the most shared images in tattoo history.

Bringing tattooing inland

At the time, tattooing in the US was concentrated in port cities, where sailors made up much of the clientele. As they travelled with shows and fairs, Maud and Gus tattooed people in small towns across America, and they are credited with helping bring tattooing inland, away from the coasts. For the bigger picture, read our history of tattooing in America.

A family of tattooists

Maud and Gus had a daughter, Lotteva, who reportedly started tattooing at the age of nine and went on to become a tattoo artist herself.

Maud Wagner died on 30 January 1961 in Lawton, Oklahoma, at the age of 83.

Her legacy

• A pioneer for women in tattooing. Maud proved that women could not only wear tattoos, but create them, at a time when both were seen as shocking.
• A link to hand-poked traditions. Hand-poking has seen a big revival, especially for fine and delicate work.
• An enduring image. Her photographs continue to inspire tattoo artists, designers and clients.

The path she opened led to generations of women artists. Read about female tattoo artists creating inclusive spaces today, and the story of pioneering British tattooist Jessie Knight in our article on the National Museum of Wales exhibition.

For another early 20th century legend, see our profile of Sailor Jerry, and for the story of tattooing through the ages, our tattoo history timeline.

Biographical details from the Wikipedia article on Maud Wagner and its cited sources.