In a Different Light: Uranium Glass Artworks
The collection of the Museum of Applied Arts preserves many artefacts made of uranium glass for a wide range of functions. Glass objects coloured by adding uranium oxide to the melt were typically popular decorative and cabinet pieces to satisfy the Biedermeier period's need for intense colour. The green and yellow shades of uranium glass, which were known in the era as Annagrün and Annagelb, were developed by the Bohemian glass technician Josef Riedel in the 1830s. Riedel named the particularly bright colours after his wife, Anna. From the middle of the 19th century, commemorative and spa-cure glasses, and more rarely drinkware, lampshades and even pharmacy bottles were made of this material. The explanation of this fact is that these objects have low uranium content and produce minimal radiation, thus carry no hazard to human health.
Uranium glass, which is yellow or green in natural light, usually fluoresces in neon green, sometimes in neon orange, in UV light. The present selection of the Museum of Applied Arts also includes photographs of uranium glass objects taken in UV light, showing the stunning decorativeness of these pieces, and, surprisingly, even detecting the presence of uranium oxide in objects, of which we would not even assume at first glance.
Uranium glass is also known by other names. Following the Great Depression—from the 1930s to the 1950s—mass-produced glassware was made of coloured glass melt and with a cost-effective technology, pressing. Among these products, which were dubbed depression glass, we find a remarkable amount of uranium glass items. While the term depression glass is more prevalent in the United States, vaseline glass is commonly used in the UK.
In modern and contemporary glass art, there is an increasing number of uranium glass sculptures and installations. Creators use uranium glass in order to formulate and convey their artistic intentions, incorporating the colour and fluorescence of this special material.
by Piroska Novák
The photos which were made under UV light were produced by Krisztina Friedrich.
