LibGuides: Neon and Plasma: History of Neon Art

Development and Use of Neon

The history of Neon goes beyond the illumination of signs. In the early 20th century, scientists were beginning to utilize neon and other chemicals for medical purposes. In the 1930s, instructions for building and using neon cathodes and lamps were published. We begin to see a shift in perspective of neon from a medicinal tool to an icon of the advertising industry. The following handbooks and manuals provide a glimpse into the development and practice of neon technology in its earliest years. Additional resources highlight the change in aesthetics and display of neon throughout the 20th century and into the present day.

Early Days of Neon

Neon tube practice by Schallreuter, W. L.
Call Number: Reading Room, Microforms ; F-17589
Publication Date: 1933
Contains chapters on the rare gases, air pumps and vacuum technique, practical uses of neon, striplighting, and neon for medical purposes, among others.
Newnes Practical Mechanics by Camm, F. J. (Frederick James)
Call Number: Secured Stacks, Uncataloged Periodicals ; Newnes Practical Mechanics
Publication Date: Newnes Practical Mechanics, v. 3, no. 36, Sept. 1936
"A comprehensive outline of the nature, construction, and operation of neon advertising signs."
The theory and design of illuminating engineering equipment by Jolley, L. B. W. (Leonard Benjamin William), 1886-; Waldram, John Malyon.
Call Number: TK4161 .J75
Publication Date: 1931
Includes Early example of Neon Lamps and Cold Cathodes.
Glass working for luminous tubes by Eccles, Henry.
Call Number: TK4383 .E17
Publication Date: 1937
How to make neon signs.
Neon, a handbook for electrical engineers, neon manufacturers, sign salesmen and advertisers by Gold, S.
Call Number: TK4383 .G61
Publication Date: 1934
Handbook for the construction of Neon Sign from 1934
Die Neon-Leuchtröhren : ihre Fabrikation, Anwendung und Installation by Möbius, P.
Call Number: TK4383 .M68
Publication Date: 1932
Manual on the construction and installation of Neon Signs

Neon Through History

Spectacular Illumination by Tom Zimmerman
Call Number: Aquisition
ISBN: 9781626400269
Publication Date: 2016-08-13
A spectacular collection of vintage photography that showcases the glowing neon heritage of the City of Angels. More than 200 images fill its pages. L.A. has long been recognized as the most vibrant city in America, and part of its radiance comes from streets lined with neon signs during the Golden Age of neon from 1925 to 1965. Photographer and historian Tom Zimmerman shows images that depict, in both colorand in black-and-white, what Raymond Chandler, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and countless other writers have tried to put into words. Spectacular Illuminationtells a story of a city that has glowed, now glows, and, thanks to institutions such as the Museum of Neon Art, will glow forever.
Being and Neonness, Translation and Content Revised, Augmented, and Updated for This Edition by Luis de Miranda by Luis De Miranda; Michael Wells (Translator)
Call Number: B818.5 .M5713 2019z
ISBN: 9780262039888
Publication Date: 2019-04-16
A cultural and philosophical history of neon, from Paris in the twentieth century to the perpetually switched-on present day. For most of us, the word neon conjures images of lights, colors, nightlife, and streets. It evokes the poetry of city nights. For Luis de Miranda, neon is a subject of philosophical curiosity. This English edition has been thoroughly revised and adapted from the French edition, L'être et le neon.
Pascal Greco : Hong Kong neon by Greco, Pascal, photographer, author.; Wu, Chi-Kai, interviewee.; Fung, Siu Wah, interviewee
Call Number: GT3911.7.H77 .G79
ISBN: 2884744916
Publication Date: 2021
The neon signs of Hong Kong have been part of the city's visual identity for decades. Unfortunately in the last fifteen years, 90% of the neon signs have been removed. This photographic work is made with a format that has also disappeared: instant photography, type 100 (Polaroid 125i, 669 & Fujifilm FP-100c). The project was made from 2012 to 2019. More than two-thirds of the neon signs in the book no longer exist. The book is a tribute to the visual heritage, design, typography and people who created and shaped these neon signs and also to Hong Kong that is entering an uncertain future.
Polish Cold War Neon by Ilona Karwinska
Call Number: GT3911.68.P7 .K18
ISBN: 9781935613350
Publication Date: 2011-12-06
When the Communist regime gained power after World War II, it took a controlled interest in the medium of neon, going so far as to create Reklama, a state-run company for advertising services that held a monopoly on exterior advertising throughout Poland. Designed and built by prominent architects, graphic designers, and artists and overseen by a chief graphic designer, Polish neon signage was renowned for its outstanding technical and artistic qualities. During its peak, Reklama maintained over 1,000 neon signs, whose playfulness and folly stood out in the otherwise dark and oppressed Poland, ornamenting otherwise drab cities and towns. Today, most of the neon signs are gone, too expensive and fragile to maintain; belonging to no one, all that remains of them are their ghostly weathered "shadows."
Vintage Neon by Len Davidson
Call Number: GT3911.A2 .D25
ISBN: 9780764308574
Publication Date: 1999-07-29
Neon designer Len Davidson has captured the magic with over 350 photos of superb vintage signs. He has drawn on renowned photographers, museums, and private collections, as well as his own Neon Museum of Philadelphia pieces to compile the definitive photo archive. Davidson has also expressed the legend in words. The pages echo with the voices of sign makers and shopkeepers, photographers and preservationists. Architects and sign artisans will find this collection invaluable. It is also an essential volume for anyone who has been captured by the spell of the highway and neon's siren song.
Spectular! a History of Las Vegas Neon by Melissa Johnson (Contribution by); Carrie Schomig; Dorothy Wright
Call Number: GT3911.N32 .L33
ISBN: 9780985268916
Publication Date: 2013-05-01
Provides a new look at the origins of 21st century neon in Las Vegas and the role of the Neon Museum in rescuing and preserving some of these spectacular signs.
100 Years of Neon Signs by Thielen, Marcus
Call Number: Periodicals HF5841 .S57
Publication Date: Signs of the Times, v. 233, no. 1 (Jan. 2011)
Overview of the life of neon signs.
Flickering Light by Christoph Ribbat; Mathews Anthony (Translator)
Call Number: TK4383 .R48e
ISBN: 9781780230917
Publication Date: 2013-07-15
Explores neon's technological and intellectual history, from the discovery of the noble gas in late nineteenth-century London to its fading popularity today. Ribbat ends with a melancholy discussion of neon's decline, describing how these glowing signs and installations came to be seen as dated and characteristic of run-down neighborhoods.
Flackernde Moderne by Christoph Ribbat
ISBN: 9783515098908
Publication Date: 2011-09-06
Neonlicht gilt als kalt und anonym. Seine Geschichte aber eroffnet faszinierende Facetten von Stadt- und Popularkultur. Zwischen den Weltkriegen brachten Leuchtreklamen Eleganz und Vitalitat in die Metropolen. In den 1950er Jahren verwandelten pulsierende Spektakel das Wustenortchen Las Vegas. Heute glimmt Lichtkunst in Museen und Galerien. Literaten, Filmemacher und Fotografen liessen sich vom Glimmen und Flackern anlocken und machten Neon zur Metapher der Moderne. Und doch ist die Geschichte des Neonlichts immer auch eine Geschichte der Erfolgslosigkeit: Nur wenige Jahrzehnte nach ihrer Erfindung galt die Werbetechnik als veraltet und war bald typisch fur die Problemviertel der Stadt.

External Resources

Museum of Neon Art

The only museum in the world devoted exclusively to art in electric media, exhibiting electric and kinetic fine art, and outstanding examples of historic neon signs, for over three decades.

The Neon Museum Las Vegas

Dedicated to collecting, preserving, studying and exhibiting iconic Las Vegas signs for educational, historic, arts and cultural enrichment.