Illuminating Art Forms

ARTS illuminating art forms

TRACING THE USE OF ARTISTIC MEDIUMS THAT SHINE, SHIMMER AND GLOW

Written by Sam Downey, Arts Staff Writer Graphic by Quinn Ruzicka, Staff Graphic Artist

Neon signs, stained glass windows and cave paintings may not seem to have much in common, but one thread pulls each art form together both in make-up and in time—each medium uses light as an essential part of its artistic expression. Yes, even cave paintings.

Dating back to 36,000-years-old, cave paintings are found deep within natural structures and often depict overlapping, many-limbed animals.1 For the early humans who created them, they would only have been visible in torchlight given their location so far within cave systems. Archaeologists have theorized that the flickering, shifting nature of firelight would have made the cave paintings appear to move as if the animals were galloping in herds across the stone.2 The strange, anatomical depictions and the tracing of the stone’s natural contours would have worked together to bring the paintings to life in the flickering light.

Thousands of years later, light was used in early European art to signify divinity, exemplified by the use of gold leaf in illuminated manuscripts.3 The gold leaf was most often used to illuminate halos around saints and holy figures, or to depict the sky as the color of heaven.4

Light was also used to represent divinity in stained glass windows, which rely on sunlight streaming through colored glass panels to bring images to life. As a technology, stained glass dates back to at least the fourth century with ancient Roman craftsmen.5 Glass is colored by adding metallic oxides that create different hues with different additives: blue and green glass, for example, is made with copper oxides.6

The use of stained glass in simple windows dates back to seventh-century Catholic churches, and by the eighth-century, the method was being practiced and perfected in what is now considered the Middle East.7 Ornate stained glass windows adorned mosques and palaces, and one Persian chemist, Jābir ibn Ḥayyān, even published a “cookbook” containing recipes and advice for creating colored glass and glass gemstones.8

Muslim stained-glass artists did not use pictures in mosques, instead creating abstract floral and geometric patterns.9 There are theories among art historians that European Crusaders were inspired by these rosette and octagonal stained glass windows and brought the ideas back to Europe, along with other advancements made by Muslim artists and scholars.10 The 12th century saw the advent of Gothic architecture in Europe, replacing the Romanesque style of thick walls and rounded forms with delicate spires and large, intricate stained glass windows.11 The features of the Gothic style were deliberately chosen to bring height and light into buildings and works of art, and stained glass was the perfect medium to brighten both the insides and outsides of Gothic buildings.12

In the Renaissance, as European art experienced a rapid burst of exploration and change, Leonardo da Vinci studied the properties of light and shadow, incorporating this into his painting style.13 Other Renaissance artists followed suit, with some, such as Caravaggio, developing iconic art styles based on the use of high contrasts.14 Frames began to get painted gold, not necessarily to signify divinity as the medieval manuscripts were meant to, but to draw the eye in and give the framed work an elevated look of importance.15

Light continued to be used as an attention-getter in various ways, but none so iconic as the neon sign. In 1910, French engineer Georges Claude perfected the process of using electrodes to direct voltage through neon-gas-filled glass tubes to cause the tubes to glow.16 Within 10 years, the novelty of glowing signage meant that neon lights were fast becoming a staple of advertising in the United States. (It’s interesting to note that neon, as a gas, only produces red and orange tones in signs. Other colors were made by using blends of argon and mercury and painting the glass tubes with phosphorescent coatings.)

The 1960s saw a shift towards using neon for more than just practical signage. Some artists were inspired by the textbased origins of the medium, while others transformed the glowing lines into abstract sculptures or representational outlines.17 Artistically, neon can be used to invoke ideas of commercialism and superficiality that trace back to its origins as an advertising medium.18 In terms of its use of luminescence and color, however, neon lighting could be considered a creative descendent of stained glass, gold leaf and even early humans’ torchlight. This may seem a harsh comparison, but neon is still a beautiful art form that builds on older luminescent mediums to bring light and color to our modern age. ■

1 Bridget Alex, “Archaeologists Are Seeing Cave Art in a New Light,” Atlas Obscura, 2021. ² Ibid. ³ “A History of Light in Art,” Paint Basket Online Art Lessons, 2019. ⁴ Erla Zwingle, “The History of Gold Leaf,” The Craftsmanship Initiative, 2022. ⁵ Kelly Richman-Abdou, “Stained Glass: The Splendid History of an Ancient Art Form That Still Dazzles Today,” My Modern Met, 2019. ⁶ Ibid. ⁷ Ibid. ⁸ Ibid. ⁹ “Glass,” Cities of Light, 2022. 10 “Rise of Glass Industry in Golden Age of Muslim Civilisation,” 1001 Inventions, 2020. MODA | 32

11 Kelly Richman-Abdou, “Stained Glass: The Splendid History of an Ancient Art Form That Still Dazzles Today,” My Modern Met, 2019. 12 Ibid. 13 “A History of Light in Art,” Paint Basket Online Art Lessons, 2019. 14 Ibid. 15 Ibid. 16 Tori Homann, “The Golden Age of Neon,” North American Signs, 2021. 17 Tori Campbell, “Neon Art: Ten Artists Who Defined the Medium,” The Artlander, 2021. 18 Chenoa Pettrup, “the enigma that is neon,” Design Online, 2018.