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Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level C , Case 3H, Shelf 24

Head

Print
1969 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Kenneth Knowlton (born 1931, Springville, New York) was a computer graphics engineer, who, from 1962 worked at Bell Telephone Laboratories (AT+T Bell Labs) in Murray Hill, New Jersey. Bell Labs was one of the focal points for the production of early computer art. In 1963 Knowlton developed one of the earliest programming languages for producing computer animations, called BEFLIX (from Bell Flicks). Knowlton collaborated with Lillian Schwartz (born 1927, Ohio) in the late 1960s, and together they developed EXPLOR (EXplicit Patterns, Local Operations and Randomness) to create a series of films that could produce both still and moving images. Schwartz was primarily an artist who was interested in the possibilities offered by new technologies, although she went on to become a consultant at Bell Labs. Early computer programs were limited in their graphical ability, and Schwartz tended to enhance her work by manually producing it in more traditional materials at the final stage of production. Transferring a computer generated image into a screenprint, such as with this work, would have enabled Schwartz to use more vivid colours than would have been possible with the computer output devices of the late 1960s.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleHead
Materials and techniques
Screenprint mounted on board
Brief description
Colour screenprint on paper after a computer-generated portrait, by Lillian Schwartz and Kenneth Knowlton, 1969.
Physical description
Screenprint in red, yellow and green on paper, mounted on board, from a computer generated image. The white non-printed areas depict a head and face.
Dimensions
  • Height: 76.5cm
  • Width: 59.1cm
Copy number
5 of 100
Marks and inscriptions
'SCHWARTZ - KNOWLTON 5/100 1969' (Artists' signatures, edition number and date, in pencil in lower left side.)
Credit line
Given by the Computer Arts Society, supported by System Simulation Ltd, London
Production
Schwartz's original sketch would be translated into alphanumeric characters and sketched on graph paper. The final silkscreen is based on a computer printout of these alphanumeric characters.
Subject depicted
Summary
Kenneth Knowlton (born 1931, Springville, New York) was a computer graphics engineer, who, from 1962 worked at Bell Telephone Laboratories (AT+T Bell Labs) in Murray Hill, New Jersey. Bell Labs was one of the focal points for the production of early computer art. In 1963 Knowlton developed one of the earliest programming languages for producing computer animations, called BEFLIX (from Bell Flicks). Knowlton collaborated with Lillian Schwartz (born 1927, Ohio) in the late 1960s, and together they developed EXPLOR (EXplicit Patterns, Local Operations and Randomness) to create a series of films that could produce both still and moving images. Schwartz was primarily an artist who was interested in the possibilities offered by new technologies, although she went on to become a consultant at Bell Labs. Early computer programs were limited in their graphical ability, and Schwartz tended to enhance her work by manually producing it in more traditional materials at the final stage of production. Transferring a computer generated image into a screenprint, such as with this work, would have enabled Schwartz to use more vivid colours than would have been possible with the computer output devices of the late 1960s.
Other number
CAS/A/0030 - Previous owner's number
Collection
Accession number
E.85-2008

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Record createdMay 20, 2008
Record URL
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