These painted wall signs can be found in cities that were created in the late 1800s.
By the late 20th century some of the signs remained and became known as ghost signs.
They contain faded and peeling paint, often revealing a pentimento effect, one image showing through another.
The lead paints and other chemicals used to create the signs, durable yet toxic, exposed the sign painters, who were often called wall dogs, to an environmental hazards at the same time as they made art that seemed to last forever.
vintage photos
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts
-
The Sambo's sign has a controversial history A tale of a little boy outsmarting tigers, saving himself and others from certain dea...
-
Pot leaf in neon Photo by Matthew Bamberg Well, then. Here's a pot leaf. Creating and displaying a marijuana neon sign is not ill...
-
These painted wall signs can be found in cities that were created in the late 1800s. By the late 20th century some of the signs remained...
4 comments:
If you're interested in these from the UK then visit my Ghostsigns blog.
I love your blog! These articles about retro signs are very interesting and make me feel a little bit nostaligiC. Nowadays it's very hard to find those kind of 'last forever signs' on our urban environment. Lightboxes and architectural signs have replaced them. It's not the same art but it's the art of our time!
Awesome photos. Love the classic look of old signage and advertisements.
Chris Stokes
www.imagesignanddesign.com
How did I miss your sign blog? I love your displays of signs and background history.
Post a Comment