Russell Clark’s 'Saturday night' (1934) conveys the bustle and bright lights of a nocturnal city street – possibly Wellington’s Cuba Street. The image is sexually charged. The men staring up at the women in the window, as another man seemingly propositions a woman in the doorway, suggest the building is a brothel. That the area is a red-light district is further indicated by the sailors, policeman and bonneted Salvation Army missioner – whose aim was to save prostitutes from their sinful lives.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Reference:
1991-0024-1
Watercolour by Russell Stuart Clark
Permission of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
Tāpiritia te tākupu hou