Nw a r s a w E O N N
eon signs are experiencing a resurrection in Poland’s capital city. Riding the wave of vintage revival, neons that survived the Cold War are being restored and new pieces are cropping up throughout the city. Juxtaposed against the backdrop of a disordered commercial urban landscape, their timeless designs hold a charm over Varsovians. Formerly socialist propaganda, they have now been reclaimed by the arts community as a distinctive element of the city’s heritage, underlining Warsaw’s transformation from its days under Soviet rule. Neon’s heyday began in the late 1950s, thanks to the explosion of artistic creativity during the Thaw after Stalin’s death. The fever for illuminated typefaces served a number of functions. On a practical level, they were promoted by the State in an effort to light Poland’s major cities.
by THEA WAXMAN
Contrary to the seedy associations with ‘Peep Show’ or ‘Liquor’ signs in the West, neons in Poland took on a propagandist role. They were meant to convey a sense of modernity and progress, a paradoxical illusion of Western glamour and glitz without the accompanying capitalism. Bizarrely, it worked: “We felt, even if only briefly, that we were part of the world, part of the rest of Europe” reflects a Varsovian, in the 2014 documentary Neon. In reality, consumerism was impossible and shortages of almost every product resulted in heavy rationing and endless queuing. Nevertheless, the neons sign marking almost every shop, café, library and music hall gave the capital the feel of an Eastern Bloc Vegas . When creating a neon “[y]
ou have to take light and make it appear like a drawing in the sky”, describes design historian David Crowley, “There’s this fantastic, witty, imaginative, creative act in producing great neon.” The best visual artists and architects were commissioned to execute the signs. They created their own inimitable typefaces and styles and neon became a new art form, blurring the divide between applied and fine art. The elaborate graphic elements and imaginative fonts gave the streets a dream-like glow at night. In an amusing or emotive way, neons could depict what was inside the building they adorned, like the volleyball player throwing her ball down the side of a multistory sports shop or a burglar climbing up the side of an insurance company build-