The Drunkard's Progress
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''The Drunkard's Progress: From the First Glass to the Grave'' is an 1846
lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...
by
Nathaniel Currier Nathaniel Currier (March 27, 1813 – November 20, 1888) was an American lithography, lithographer. He headed the company Currier and Ives, Currier & Ives with James Ives. Early life and education Currier was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, to ...
. It is a nine-step on a stone arch depicting a man's journey through
alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...
. Through a series of vignettes it shows how a single drink starts an arc that ends in suicide. Below the structure, the protagonist's wife and child stand in tears. The lithograph is based on
John Warner Barber John Warner Barber (February 2, 1798 – June 22, 1885) was an American engraver and historian whose books of state, national, and local history featured his vivid illustrations, said to have caught the flavor and appearance of city, town, and ...
's 1826 work ''The Drunkard's Progress, or The Direct Road to Poverty, Wretchedness, & Ruin''. Critical reception has been poor since the image was released, but it influenced other temperance-themed works. ''The Drunkard's Progress'' is used in high school American history classes to teach about the
temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting Temperance (virtue), temperance or total abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and ...
.


Background

From the 1800s until the start of
Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...
in 1920, the
temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting Temperance (virtue), temperance or total abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and ...
was a major force in American life, advocating a ban on
alcoholic beverage Drinks containing alcohol (drug), alcohol are typically divided into three classes—beers, wines, and Distilled beverage, spirits—with alcohol content typically between 3% and 50%. Drinks with less than 0.5% are sometimes considered Non-al ...
s. The movement came out of the
Second Great Awakening The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the late 18th to early 19th century in the United States. It spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching and sparked a number of reform movements. Revivals were a k ...
and grew through revival meetings and missionary groups. To reformers of the era,
alcohol abuse Alcohol abuse encompasses a spectrum of alcohol-related substance abuse. This spectrum can range from being mild, moderate, or severe. This can look like consumption of more than 2 drinks per day on average for men, or more than 1 drink per ...
and
slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
were seen as the two major social ills in the United States. Initially, temperance advocates pushed for people to abstain from drinking liquor, but by 1840, the focus on spirits was replaced with across-the-board
teetotalism Teetotalism is the practice of voluntarily abstaining from the consumption of alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler (US) or teetotaller (UK), or said to b ...
. The company that would become
Currier and Ives Currier and Ives was a New York City-based printmaking business operating from 1835 to 1907. Founded by Nathaniel Currier, the company designed and sold inexpensive hand-painted Lithography, lithographic works based on news events, views of popu ...
was founded in 1834 by
Nathaniel Currier Nathaniel Currier (March 27, 1813 – November 20, 1888) was an American lithography, lithographer. He headed the company Currier and Ives, Currier & Ives with James Ives. Early life and education Currier was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, to ...
. It would grow to be the go-to publisher and manufacturer of mass produced
lithographs Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...
in the United States. Their low cost prints, which retailed between $0.15 and $3.00 depending on the size (equivalent to $ and $ in , respectively), were found in homes and businesses across the country. Currier and Ives's works mostly depicted religious, moralistic, and patriotic scenes, as well as idealized versions of rural life. ''The Drunkard's Progress'' is one of several temperance-themed images in their catalogue which show how the consumption of alcohol leads to ruin.


Creation

In 1826,
John Warner Barber John Warner Barber (February 2, 1798 – June 22, 1885) was an American engraver and historian whose books of state, national, and local history featured his vivid illustrations, said to have caught the flavor and appearance of city, town, and ...
published ''The Drunkard's Progress, or The Direct Road to Poverty, Wretchedness, & Ruin'', a four-part lithograph depicting a family's journey to the
poorhouse A poorhouse or workhouse is a government-run (usually by a county or municipality) facility to support and provide housing for the dependent or needy. Workhouses In England, Wales and Ireland (but not in Scotland), "workhouse" has been the more ...
due to consuming alcohol. Based on Barber's work, Currier created his similarly named ''The Drunkard's Progress: From the First Glass to the Grave'' in 1846.


Description

''The Drunkard's Progress'' is a , a common visual device in the 1800s. Across the middle of the image is stone arch with ascending and then descending steps. The image uses the nine stairs to represent nine stages of alcoholism, as imagined by Currier. Below the stone structure, the male protagonist's wife and child stand by their burning home in tears. According to the print, the path to ruin starts with a singular social drink provided to the protagonist by "a woman of evidently questionable virtue". He then progresses to drinking to "keep the cold out" and then, subsequently, to intoxication. At the fourth step, the protagonist starts to engage in violence while intoxicated. The arc peaks with the man, cigar in hand, partying with friends. The sixth step, and first down, depicts the man falling into poverty due to his use of alcohol. He is then "forsaken by friends" which leads to him turning to crime. The final stage shows the protagonist dying by suicide.


Reception and legacy

''The Drunkard's Progress'' has been mostly panned by commentators. Writing for ''
The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local, regional, national, and international news. Founded in 1837, the newspaper was owned by Tribune Publi ...
'' in 1930, Robert Sisk found the lithograph to be self-defeating by having the protagonist die by a gunshot instead of through drinking. Douglas Naylor described it as "prize-deserving" in a 1933 article in ''
The Pittsburgh Press ''The Pittsburgh Press'', formerly ''The Pittsburg Press'' and originally ''The Evening Penny Press'', was a major afternoon daily newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for over a century, from 1884 to 1992. At the height of its popul ...
''. In 1984, Tess Panfil, writing for ''
The Berkshire Eagle ''The Berkshire Eagle'' is an American daily newspaper published in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and covering all of Berkshire County, as well as four New York communities near Pittsfield. It is considered a newspaper of record for Berkshire Coun ...
'', found the work to be overwrought in her review of a Currier and Ives exhibition. The same year as Currier, the Kellogg Brothers released their own version of ''The Drunkard's Progress''. In the Kelloggs' version, the family of the protagonist is replaced by a distillery and a man walking out the front with two money bags. English Professor John William Crowley suggests that the Kellogg Brothers copied their version from Currier. With ''The Drunkard's Progress'', Currier established the plot arc used in temperance novels: a first drink quickly leading to a premature death. ''Mary Grover, Or, The Trusting Wife: A Domestic Temperance Tale'' was explicitly written by Charles Burdett to turn the image into a book. '' George's Mother'' by
Stephen Crane Stephen Crane (November 1, 1871 – June 5, 1900) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism an ...
was also influenced by the lithograph. The work is presented as a
primary source In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an Artifact (archaeology), artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was cre ...
in classes on American history to teach about the temperance movement. One social studies teacher said he uses it because the progression of alcoholism depicted closely matches the message of anti-drug programing in schools such as D.A.R.E. Students have compared the simplistic "
just say no "Just Say No" was an advertising campaign prevalent during the 1980s and early 1990s as a part of the U.S.-led war on drugs, aiming to discourage children from engaging in illegal recreational drug use by offering various ways of saying ''no''. ...
" messaging of ''The Drunkard's Progress'' with '' Faces of Meth''.


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Bibliography

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