Illuminated X-Ray Sign

A vintage illuminated wayfinding sign for an "X-ray" department, its acrylic face internally lit to glow a warm glow behind a bold red pictogram of a standing figure and the lowercase "x-ray" wordmark below. The graphic language is pure late-modernist hospital signage: reductive, symbol-first, and designed to be read at a glance from down a corridor. Housed in a black-edged rectangular box with a frosted acrylic diffuser panel, the piece still functions and lights up when plugged in, making it as effective as a piece of sculptural lighting today as it once was as institutional wayfinding. Pieces like this were produced for hospitals and clinics as part of larger integrated signage systems, and surviving examples in working order — with clean, unyellowed acrylic and crisp graphics — are increasingly hard to find. This one retains its original cord and would suit a wall mount or tabletop placement in an interior with an eye for industrial design, medical/scientific ephemera, or graphic-forward lighting. Located at our Los Angeles Gallery.