Richard Guy Wilson | The Great American Art Invention: Neon Signs
Architecture, Design & Landscape Series
August 14, 2024
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Edith Wharton had a keen interest in design. First chronicled in The Decoration of Houses and subsequently illustrated in the rich descriptions interwoven throughout her novels, Wharton’s influence is commemorated in this new lecture series.
On August 14, author and architectural historian Richard Guy Wilson investigates on of the most important American artistic creations: the neon sign – a technology that transformed American cities and roadsides. Invented at the turn-of-the-century, glowing neon tubes were first unveiled in France before making their way to the United States in the 1920s. Within a decade, neon advertisements were nearly ubiquitous, arresting eyes nationwide with their visually alluring and technologically wonderous glow.
Interested in becoming a Mount Member? Join today!
The Mount is a Massachusetts Cultural Council UP designated organization welcoming participants of all disabilities. Please contact The Mount at 413-551-5100 or by email, info@edithwharton.org, to discuss accommodations needed to participate fully in this event. The Mount's Health and Safety Guidelines can be found here.
Thanks to our sponsors:
Richard Guy Wilson is Commonwealth Professor Emeritus in Architectural History at the University of Virginia. He is a frequent lecturer, television commentator, and author of many articles and books on different aspects of American and modern architecture and design including: Edith Wharton at Home (2012); The Colonial Revival House (2004); Thomas Jefferson’s Academical Village (1993, 2009); Machine Age in America (1986), McKim, Mead & White, Architects (1982), and The American Renaissance (1979). He has taught the Victorian Society’s Newport Summer School for 40 years.