The Temperance Movement Comes to Pittsburgh

This painting by the Pittsburgh artist Alfred Frances King is a commentary on the tumultuous and divisive period in Pittsburgh during the Temperance movement in the late 19th century. King was primarily a still life, landscape and portrait painter and this painting as a social commentary represents a rare departure from his other works.

Born in 1854, the artist Alfred King was the product of Catholic parents forced to flee Germany to escape religious persecution. Pittsburg saloons were a refuge for immigrant workers and coal miners like the family of A.F. King, where they could talk in their own tongues. Immigrants and the politicians who represented them resented the temperance advocates dictating morals to them.

As a result of the mounting pressure from Temperance crusaders many hotels stopped serving liquor or lost their licenses as seen in this painting. These societies continued to apply pressure to clean up or close saloons in Pittsburgh during the second half of the 19thcentury. By 1890 speakeasies, bootleggers and private stills were operating everywhere. Allegations by the clergy of corruption between the judiciary, the saloon owners and the liquor industry spurred police to conduct raids on speakeasies. On the other hand, many of the establishments were owned by city politicians who employed police to keep order at the bars, a scenario at the heart of this painting.

With this painting Alfred King has skillfully provided us a snapshot of the competing interests and social unrest during the Temperance era in Pittsburgh. Give his background as a Polish immigrant to Pittsburgh, he undoubtedly observed these scenarios first hand.

Alfred Francis King (1854-1945)
Oil on canvas
Circa 1890
27.75” x 23.5”