Monday, October 05, 2020

Beer Street and Gin Lane

 In the mid-eighteenth century, England experienced a drug crisis. Gin, a cheap new beverage with a much higher alcohol content than previous popular drinks, became a threat to society. Poor people drank gin instead of working, instead of taking care of their children, and instead of behaving responsibly in any way. Gin-drinking was accused of every evil that we have associated with various drug problems in our society in the last 50 or 75 years. Pressure grew to create laws regulating the manufacturing and distribution of gin — which was completely unregulated at the time. 

William Hogarth (1697-1764) was a successful artist, who issued large editions of his etchings at affordable prices. As the pressure grew for something to be done about the gin epidemic, he created a print called Gin Lane that caricatured and emphasized the social dangers of gin. The center of the print is a woman whose drunkenness is so severe that she is letting her infant fall out of her arms. Throughout the rest of the print are equally egregious examples of debauchery and dysfunction. For a detailed description of what each image means, see the article "Beer Street and Gin Lane" in  Wikipedia.

William Hogarth, Gin Lane. 1751.

The companion print to Gin Lane is called Beer Street. Beer, a much lower-alcohol drink than the distilled gin, had been the choice of Britain's lower classes (and others) for centuries, especially because it was much safer to drink than any drinking water available at that time. Beer was considered a patriotic drink -- a native English product, while gin was a foreign introduction. While the people in Beer Street are prosperous-looking, and seemed to be hard workers, there's also quite a bit of satire in this print. According to the analysis in Wikipedia:
"On the simplest level, Hogarth portrays the inhabitants of Beer Street as happy and healthy, nourished by the native English ale, and those who live in Gin Lane as destroyed by their addiction to the foreign spirit of gin; but, as with so many of Hogarth's works, closer inspection uncovers other targets of his satire, and reveals that the poverty of Gin Lane and the prosperity of Beer Street are more intimately connected than they at first appear. Gin Lane shows shocking scenes of infanticide, starvation, madness, decay and suicide, while Beer Street depicts industry, health, bonhomie and thriving commerce, but there are contrasts and subtle details that some critics believe allude to the prosperity of Beer Street as the cause of the misery found in Gin Lane."

William Hogarth, Beer Street, 1751.

The satire and caricature in  Hogarth's works, including many other than these two, has always appealed to my sense of humor and my interest in social problems in times past. The foibles of society always could be made into amusing and penetrating art works! I'm sharing this with Elizabeth at Altered Book Lover for the weekly blog event featuring drinks that she sponsors each Tuesday.

Blog post © 2020 mae sander, public domain prints taken from Wikipedia.

18 comments:

Iris Flavia said...

Very interesting, I never knew. Sad, though...

Anne in the kitchen said...

Interesting etchings and post explaining them. I have been looking and looking at them and am amazed at all the details in each one.

Divers and Sundry said...

I keep meaning to try gin. When I think of it I think of the bathtub gin of prohibition days. There are some problems that are with us in every generation.

Happy T day!

Angie's Recipes said...

Gin was one of my favourites when I still drank some alcohol. This is an interesting read. Thanks for sharing, Mae.

Eileen Bergen said...

Very interesting caricature drawings. Some things never change.

Happy T-day! Stay safe and stay well. Eileen

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

For some reason, gin never made it across the big pond, at least not through acceptance. I have lots of British friends who swear by gin and tonic or G & T as they call it.

Here we are ruled more by whiskey and a form of whiskey we call bourbon. Possibly because so many distilleries in the south (mostly KY) make mostly bourbon.

Once again, I learned a great deal and this time about gin. Thanks for sharing this with us for T this almost Tuesday. This was definitely a fun read.

Linda Kunsman said...

Sad but true, and quite interesting history and such. Thanks for sharing, and happy T day!

Tandy | Lavender and Lime (http://tandysinclair.com) said...

Today one thinks of Gin as being very British so it would be interesting to know how that came about. It's always a wonder how the poor could afford the habit of drinking. And what great depictions of society at the time.

Valerie-Jael said...

Hogarth was a very expressive artist and there must have been awful conditions in the slums of London. I have a book with some of his illustrations. I don't drink any alcohol, so I'm not endangered to an addition, just to coffee! Happy T day, Valerie

Anne (cornucopia) said...

Lovely vintage sketches. Happy T-Day!

Karen said...

Thank you for the history/art lesson this morning ~ Very interesting. I never knew gin was such an issue. Enjoy your week

CJ Kennedy said...

Interesting post and comment on history. Happy T Day

Lisca said...

How interesting. I think the Dutch were partly to blame as the gin was imported from Holland, where it is called jenever.
In contrast the big chocolate factories in England like Cadbury's and Fry's, were started to give people an alternative to gin. Both companies were set up by quaker families, and they did a lot to improve life for working class people.
Happy T-Day,
Hugs,
Lisca

pearshapedcrafting said...

Gin wasn't called 'Mother's Ruin' for nothing! Hogarths paintings of large groups are always worth a look around at characters in the background! Happy T Day, Chrisx

My name is Erika. said...

Very interesting Mae. I knew about beer but didn't know much about gin and English history. Perfect for T day. Hope yours was a good one. Hugs-Erika

DVArtist said...

Wow! This is a great post!!! Thank you for sharing this bit of history. Enjoyed it immensely.

Kate Yetter said...

You always share interesting bits of history.
Happy Tea Day,
Kate

Sharon Madson said...

It is really interesting although I don't care to look at the the satire and caricature in his pictures. It could make a person depressed! :)
Your post was educational to me. Happy Tea Day. Yes, drink tea not gin!