William Hogarth - Beer Street and Gin Lane

William Hogarth (1697-1764) was a famous painter and printmaker.  He was born in London,  England and was the son of an unsuccessful writer and schoolmaster from Westmoreland. In 1710 he began engraving his own designs after working as an apprentice at a Goldsmiths. By the late 1720's he started painting portraits using oil paints producing a large variety of successful artwork along the way.
Approximately between 1720 and 1751 in London,  there was a large increase in poverty and overcrowding due to a vast amount of immigration from the countryside. This caused many problems for people, resulting in a rise in drinking gin within the middle and upper classes,  but mainly within the lower class .This became a problem due to the Gin Act of 1736, when the British Government tried to control the production. This then provided Hogarth with the inspiration to create a series of etchings based on what he witnessed at this time. The main feeling behind the his work, was to provide a sense of social disorder,  depression,  difficult living conditions,  crime and danger.  During this time,  people were living in fear for themselves, their homes and businesses. He has portrayed this fantastically through each image.
Beer Street was set in a wealthier part of London,  where an image of St-Martin-in-the-fields church within the print.  Gin Lane focused more on the vision of poverty and desperation, set in the West of Bloomsbury.

Gin Lane 1751

I found this image to be filled with many examples of a desperate society.  The woman letting go of the baby because she is completely out of it,  is just insane. This image is very comical in my opinion,  although it probably shouldn't be. There is so much going on, it produces an insight into how bad things were, it is a clever observation which does not seem to be a reality. 

                        

Beer Street 1751

Although it is serious,  I found this image to be quite humorous in some places, despite the fact these is just chaos erupting throughout,  including people running on the roof top. I found it interesting to see a community which has just stopped caring, and finding the solution to their problems at the bottom of a bottle.