CHARLES DICKENS VISIT • AN ISLAND IN THE MIST • ARTWORKS FOR SALE

By admin

Monday, March 30, 2020

12th in our FROM THE ARCHIVES series. 

Charles Dickens dislikes spitting; finds sanitary conditions in America not up-to-snuff; visits Blackwell’s Island; shortens his visit 

Robin Lynn

In 1842 Dickens toured America, traveling widely, mostly on the East Coast and the Great Lakes region, and even coming to Roosevelt Island, then named Blackwell’s Island, to visit the Island’s Lunatic Asylum. Because of his interests in public and mental health issues, he was determined to visit prisons and mental institutions. As a social reformer, he made it a point to tour Blackwell’s Island Lunatic Asylum to see patients and conditions.

When he published his observations in American Notes for General Circulation, in London the same year, he was forthright about what he had seen. Rowed across the East River by convicts enlisted from the island’s penitentiary, Dickens  “much admired the architecture, calling the building “handsome” and the Octagon an especially “elegant” feature; but he further commented in his American Notes (1842):… everything [at the Asylum] had a lounging, listless, madhouse air which was very painful.” 

(New York City Landmarks Preservation report)

So unsettling was his visit that he wrote,“The terrible crowd with which these halls and galleries were filled, so shocked me, that I abridged my stay within the shortest limits, and declined to see that portion of the building in which the refractory and violent were under closer restraint.”

As he continued his travels, and as the crowds gathered to greet him, Dickens saw more Americans up close and more than his share of tobacco chewers spitting out their tobacco juice. Though germ theories of the time weren’t advanced, he knew bad behavior when he saw it.

And where were of the worst of the appalling spitters? Our nation’s capitol. “Washington may be called the head-quarters of tobacco-tinctured saliva,” Dickens fumed in American Notes. “The thing itself is an exaggeration of nastiness, which cannot be outdone.” 

This was, after all, a time when the halls of Congress were festooned with spittoons to catch the Congressman’s liquid buildup when they needed to spit it out.And so they did, on fellow citizens, on sidewalks; on each other, and sometimes even in the spittoons. 

As Dickens travelled –  from city to city- he kept comparing sanitary conditions. Boston, where he landed, he found to be cleaner than New York.  But the dirtiest part of America, and the part that he railed against the most in American Notes, was the institution of slavery. Beyond all comprehension and by far the dirtiest part of America.

Dirty institutions, dirty behavior, dirty cities, Dickens spoke up and out more than 170 years ago. serves as a keeper of lost and found items.

Editorial
BY: Judith Berdy

After 24 hours in my apartment, it was time to wander south. Have to check on the situation south of the Blackwell House.  Yes, Blackwell House a victim of being quarantined from the community for decades.

Chatting with a 29 year old neighbor who has spent his entire life on the island, we discussed the effect of the pandemic on his generation.  We agree it is a slap-in-face for the me generation.  We imagined all of the hipsters not affording their Williamsburg and LIC apartments and now back home to mom and dad.  (“hang up your clothes and do you think you are a guest in a  hotel, did you forget how to use a washer?”)

In Southpoint Park the geese are nesting and, like worried parents, are honking warnings to anyone approaching.

As I passed Strecker Laboratory I look east to the underbrush and nesting spots that are slowly turning green.  This is the area where RIOC wants to “improve” the area and build a new seawall.  I admired the natural scene. Far from manicured it is thriving and should never be destroyed.

Local Artist, Henry Dancig, is selling his original artwork. His artist statement is below.

To Friends and  family,
It is my great pleasure to announce the opening of the new exhibition “Rainbows and Stars” featuring the work of Henry Dancig artist in residence near New York. Please see his works in this virtual gallery.

Mr. Dancig notes that he was inspired to create these piece “by the beautiful world around me and I wanted to draw the beautiful world.”

We believe you will find attachment a work of art for every taste and every price range. (Note:
prices do not reflect gallery, shipping and handling fees).
We hope you have a beautiful day.

 Staff -New York Emerging Artist in Residence Program.