Category: Artworks

Inside Fred Harris’s tattoo studio in Sydney on 17 December 1937, the camera lingers on a moment of careful, close-up craft: an artist bent over his work, hand steady on a buzzing tattoo machine as a client reclines on a padded bench. The setting feels intimate and matter-of-fact rather than theatrical, with timber wall panelling…

Betty Broadbent, billed as the “Tattooed Venus,” appears in Sydney on 4 April 1938 in a poised studio-style portrait that balances glamour with spectacle. Seated with a relaxed, confident smile, she turns her body so the camera can read the dense tapestry of ink across her arms and legs, while a mirror behind her offers…

Bold Dutch lettering shouts “LAAT UW HAREN LIEVER AFKNIPPEN” across the top, immediately setting a cautionary tone that feels unmistakably 1920s in its directness. Jacob Jansma’s 1925 poster uses a limited palette of greens, reds, and creams to create high contrast and instant legibility—hallmarks of effective graphic design meant for public walls and quick glances.…

Bold lettering shouts “KOOLMONOXYDE” across the top, immediately framing Hans Bolleman’s 1942 poster as a public warning rather than mere decoration. Beneath the headline, the Dutch phrase “…SLUIPEND GEVAAR…” (“…creeping danger…”) hangs over a dramatic scene in which an unconscious figure lies near a vehicle, the body rendered in cool tones that heighten the sense…

Bold blocks of red and an expanse of white set the stage for a striking piece of mid-century graphic design, dated broadly to 1959–1964 and credited to an unknown designer. Two simplified black silhouettes act out a small drama across a gap, with a narrow plank bridging the divide. The sparse, modern composition leans on…

Against a deep, weathered field of blue, a single cut-paper figure drifts like a quiet thought—an uncluttered composition that makes negative space do as much work as line. The reclining nude, rendered with spare pencil strokes on pale paper, feels both intimate and experimental, a reminder that modern art isn’t only built from paint and…

A steady, unsmiling gaze meets the viewer in this 1900-era portrait titled “18 years old,” rendered with soft, smudged shading that suggests charcoal or graphite on paper. The young sitter’s dark hair is swept back beneath a cap or wrapped head covering, while a high collar or scarf frames the neck, pulling attention toward the…

Flor Garduño’s *Reina (Queen)* from 1989 offers a quiet coronation built from everyday materials: a woman seated in shadow, her hands folded, a thick shawl wrapped around her shoulders, and a dramatic spray of spined leaves rising from her head like a natural diadem. The background drops away into velvety darkness, making the crown-like silhouette…

Along a pale woodland path, a small bear and his cautious companion move away from the viewer, their bodies rendered in quick, confident lines. The ground is alive with little marks—footprints and scuffs that read like clues—while a cluster of bare tree trunks leans in from the right, framing the quiet urgency of their walk.…

Drawn in quick, confident pen strokes, the scene settles at the root of a great tree where a small door sits half-hidden in bark and shadow. A bell and pull-cord hang by the entrance, and above it the sign reads “MR. SANDERS,” the famous little joke that explains what “under the name” means. Pooh stands…