Art: Reciprocity

Whether they liked it or not, London barflys were getting a bit of art with their “swipes” (weak, austerity beer). Four big London brewers, Barclay, Whitbread, Watney, and Courage had combined to make pub-crawling more cultural. In 1944 they commissioned some £5,000 worth of drawings and watercolors. Last week an installment of the traveling Pub Art Show opened at The Bull in East Shean, in old times the first coaching station out of London to the southwest. Beamed brilliant, bibulous old portraitist Augustus John: “Artists have always supported the brewery industry. Now we are getting a little reciprocity.”