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Kōrero: City images

'Saturday night'

Image
'Saturday night'

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

by Russell Stuart Clark

Permission of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Ben Schrader, City images – The city in art, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/artwork/25362/saturday-night (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Ben Schrader, i tāngia i te 3 March 2010.