Preserving glow-in-the-dark art and fashion for future generations
Preserving glow-in-the-dark art and fashion for future generations
为后代保存夜光艺术与时尚
Fashionistas of a certain age no doubt remember the late designer Stephen Sprouse, who gave Blondie’s Debbie Harry her distinctive Bowery punk style. Sprouse’s first collections in the mid-1980s made a major splash, melding graffiti prints, a playful ’60s aesthetic, and bright Day-Glo colors that won admirers such as Andy Warhol. 一定年纪的时尚达人无疑都记得已故设计师斯蒂芬·斯普劳斯（Stephen Sprouse），他为“金发女郎”（Blondie）乐队的黛比·哈里（Debbie Harry）打造了标志性的鲍厄里（Bowery）朋克风格。斯普劳斯在 20 世纪 80 年代中期的首批系列作品引起了巨大轰动，他将涂鸦印花、俏皮的 60 年代美学与明亮的荧光色（Day-Glo）融为一体，赢得了安迪·沃霍尔（Andy Warhol）等人的赞赏。
Several examples of Sprouse’s work are preserved in the textiles collection of the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, where conservationists are trying to learn more about the phosphorescent and fluorescent pigments the designer used in his creations in order to keep the colors from dulling over time. They described recent advances in that research at a meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) held this week in Chicago. 斯普劳斯的部分作品被印第安纳波利斯纽菲尔德艺术博物馆（Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields）的纺织品收藏部保存。为了防止这些作品的色彩随时间推移而褪色，文物保护专家们正试图深入研究设计师在创作中所使用的磷光和荧光颜料。在本周于芝加哥举行的美国化学学会（ACS）会议上，他们介绍了该研究的最新进展。
Scientists began describing minerals that glowed in the dark as phosphors in the Middle Ages. Typically, such materials take on a charge when exposed to light, storing the absorbed energy and releasing it gradually as re-emitted light. Henri Becquerel discovered radioactive decay in 1896 because of his work with phosphorescent uranium salts: He left the salts in a closed drawer with photographic plates, which fogged up even without a light source. 科学家早在中世纪就开始将那些能在黑暗中发光的矿物质称为“磷光体”。通常情况下，这类材料在接触光线时会“充电”，储存吸收的能量，并以再发射光的形式逐渐释放出来。亨利·贝克勒尔（Henri Becquerel）在 1896 年发现放射性衰变，正是源于他对磷光铀盐的研究：他将铀盐与照相底片一起放在封闭的抽屉里，结果即使没有光源，底片也出现了感光雾化。
DayGlo paints and similar materials exploit the related phenomenon of fluorescence. DayGlo pigments fluoresce in daylight by essentially converting UV light into visible light to produce brighter, more vibrant colors. Sprouse is not the only one to find inspiration in DayGlo and similar phosphorescent and fluorescent materials. All glow-in-the-dark toys, stickers, paint, coatings in fluorescent lamps, cathode-ray tube TVs, and some clock dials rely on phosphorescence. (By contrast, glow sticks rely on a chemiluminescent process.) DayGlo 涂料及类似材料利用的是相关的“荧光”现象。DayGlo 颜料通过将紫外线转化为可见光，在日光下产生荧光，从而呈现出更明亮、更鲜艳的色彩。斯普劳斯并非唯一从 DayGlo 及类似磷光和荧光材料中寻找灵感的人。所有的夜光玩具、贴纸、涂料、荧光灯涂层、阴极射线管电视以及部分钟表表盘都依赖于磷光。（相比之下，荧光棒则依赖于化学发光过程。）
They’re also commonly used for traffic signage and on safety gear. DayGlo pigments were used extensively during World War II to make fluorescent fabric panels for US ground troops, while DayGlo’s black light paints were used on Navy aircraft carriers to enable planes to land at night. Artists have used both phosphorescent and fluorescence materials extensively from the mid-20th century on, most notably for psychedelic art and Sprouse’s designs. 它们也常用于交通标志和安全装备。二战期间，DayGlo 颜料被广泛用于为美国地面部队制作荧光布板，而 DayGlo 的黑光涂料则被用于海军航空母舰，以辅助飞机夜间降落。自 20 世纪中叶以来，艺术家们广泛使用了磷光和荧光材料，其中最著名的是迷幻艺术和斯普劳斯的设计作品。
“For artists, the effect isn’t simply cosmetic, because they intentionally use these colors for their visual impact,” said Sarah Schmidtke Sobeck, a photochemist at The College of Wooster who spoke at the ACS meeting. Sobeck and Gregory Smith, a conservation scientist at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, have been collaborating on researching such materials for the last decade after meeting at a cultural heritage science conference. “对于艺术家来说，这种效果不仅仅是装饰性的，因为他们是有意利用这些色彩的视觉冲击力，”伍斯特学院（The College of Wooster）的光化学家莎拉·施密特克·索贝克（Sarah Schmidtke Sobeck）在 ACS 会议上说道。索贝克与印第安纳波利斯艺术博物馆的文物保护科学家格雷戈里·史密斯（Gregory Smith）在一次文化遗产科学会议上相识，过去十年来，他们一直合作研究此类材料。
Their partnership has already produced a two-part study on the composition, spectral properties, and light stability of daylight fluorescence artists’ pigments. That earlier work showed that the optical brightener compounds that give fluorescent pigments their brightness degrade more quickly than the pigment dyes. Thus, even when there is no degradation in the pigments, the colors can appear to darken. 他们的合作已经产出了一项关于日光荧光艺术家颜料的成分、光谱特性和光稳定性的两部分研究。早期的研究表明，赋予荧光颜料亮度的光学增白剂化合物比颜料染料降解得更快。因此，即使颜料本身没有降解，颜色也可能看起来变暗了。
That poses a unique challenge for conservationists responsible for long-term restoration of these works. Not only must they match colors under both visible and UV light, but the pigments will also change subtly over time. Gaining a better understanding of the unique photochemistry of such materials is critical for this purpose. During her talk, Sobeck reported on the group’s most recent work, extending their research to glow-in-the-dark phosphorescence pigments. 这对负责这些作品长期修复的文物保护专家提出了独特的挑战。他们不仅必须在可见光和紫外线下匹配颜色，而且颜料本身也会随时间发生细微变化。为了实现这一目标，深入了解这些材料独特的光化学性质至关重要。在演讲中，索贝克报告了该团队的最新工作，将研究范围扩展到了夜光磷光颜料。