Effective Imagery Matters: Few Pictures Have More Words Than…

Hey friends, Theron here again.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and I think few pictures have more words than the art of William Hogarth. Hogarth was an 18th century, English artist most famous for prints made from his paintings — prints essentially were the first form of social media. Given the low level of literacy, low-cost and widely-distributed highly visual prints were used to share ideas and insights.

“Prints essentially were the first form of social media.”

In the case of Hogarth, he frequently used his work to share what he viewed as risks to moral society from things like gambling, adultery, smoking, and alcohol. In one of famous series, Beer Street and Gin Lane, he provides powerful visuals that show the evils of consuming gin versus the health (perhaps relatively) of consuming beer. In another, The Rake's Progress, a wealthy young man begins his journey by spurning his lover and ends dying in a madhouse.

However we may process these views of behavior today, it is clear that the pictures are powerful and that they highlight how much effective imagery matters.

A Rake’s Progress, Plate 8, 1735, and retouched by Hogarth in 1763 by adding the Britannia emblem

Gin Lane, from Beer Street and Gin Lane. A scene of urban desolation with gin-crazed Londoners, notably a woman who lets her child fall to its death and an emaciated ballad-seller; in the background is the tower of St George's Bloomsbury. The accompanying poem, printed on the bottom, reads: Gin, cursed Fiend, with Fury fraught, Makes human Race a Prey. It enters by a deadly Draught And steals our Life away. Virtue and Truth, driv'n to Despair Its Rage compells to fly, But cherishes with hellish Care Theft, Murder, Perjury. Damned Cup! that on the Vitals preys That liquid Fire contains, Which Madness to the heart conveys, And rolls it thro' the Veins.