Neon lighting
A high potential of several thousand volts applied to the electrodes ionizes the gas in the tube, causing it to emit colored light.
Georges Claude, a French engineer and inventor, presented neon tube lighting in essentially its modern form at the Paris Motor Show, December 3–18, 1910.
[11][12] The popularity, intricacy, and scale of neon signage for advertising declined in the U.S. following the Second World War (1939–1945), but development continued vigorously in Japan, Iran, and some other countries.
[11] In recent decades architects and artists, in addition to sign designers, have again adopted neon tube lighting as a component in their works.
Fluorescent coatings (phosphors) and glasses are also an option for neon tube lighting, but are usually selected to obtain bright colors.
From December 3 to 18, 1910, Claude demonstrated two large (12-metre (39 ft) long), bright red neon tubes at the Paris Motor Show.
[24] Claude's patents envisioned the use of gases such as argon and mercury vapor to create different colors beyond those produced by neon.
Glow lamps found practical use as electronic components, and as indicators in instrument panels and in many home appliances until the acceptance of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) starting in the 1970s.
"[1] Although some neon lamps themselves are now antiques, and their use in electronics has declined markedly, the technology has continued to develop in artistic and entertainment contexts.
In 1923, Earle C. Anthony purchased two neon signs from Claude for his Packard car dealership in Los Angeles, California; these literally stopped traffic.
[12] Rudi Stern has written, "The 1930s were years of great creativity for neon, a period when many design and animation techniques were developed.
Leigh, who conceived and created the archetypal Times Square spectacular, experimented with displays that incorporated smells, fog, and sounds as part of their total effect.
[28] Nelson Algren titled his 1947 collection of short stories The Neon Wilderness (as a synonym of "urban jungle" for Chicago).
Margalit Fox has written, "... after World War II, as neon signs were replaced increasingly by fluorescent-lighted plastic, the art of bending colored tubes into sinuous, gas-filled forms began to wane.
These features distinguish glow lamps from the much longer and brighter "positive column" luminous regions in neon tube lighting.
Inventors Donald L. Bitzer, H. Gene Slottow, and Robert H. Wilson created a display that could retain its state without constant updates.
In 2006, Larry F. Weber explained that modern plasma TVs still use key features of these early displays, such as alternating sustain voltage and a neon-based gas mixture.
Frank Popper traces the use of neon lighting as the principal element in artworks to Gyula Košice's late 1940s work in Argentina.
Among the later artists whom Popper notes in a brief history of neon lighting in art are Stephen Antonakos, the conceptual artists Billy Apple, Joseph Kosuth, Bruce Nauman, Martial Raysse, Chryssa, Piotr Kowalski, Maurizio Nannucci and François Morellet[13] in addition to Lucio Fontana or Mario Merz.
These museums restore and display historical signage that was originally designed as advertising, in addition to presenting exhibits of neon art.
