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Drawing

1974 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Cohen trained as a painter and represented Britain at the 1966 Venice Biennale. In 1968 he became a visiting professor at the University of California at San Diego, where he was introduced to computer programming. In 1971 Cohen took up a post as visiting scholar in the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Stanford University. While at the Artificial Intelligence Lab, he began developing a computer program called Aaron, in which he sought to codify the act of drawing. In its early years Aaron could only produce monochrome line drawings. This example was hand coloured by Cohen.

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Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Computer-generated drawing with hand colouring
Brief description
Drawing, computer-generated, with hand colouring, by Harold Cohen, 1974.
Physical description
Computer-generated drawing with hand colouring on paper.
Dimensions
  • Height: 28cm
  • Length: 21.8cm
Marks and inscriptions
'Harold Cohen 1974' (Artist's signature and date in pencil in lower right side)
Gallery label
(07/07/2018-18/11/2018)
Chance and Control: Art in the Age of Computers (2018)

HAROLD COHEN (1928–2016)
Untitled
USA, 1974

In 1971, Cohen became a visiting scholar at Stanford University’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. While there, he began to develop AARON, a computer program designed to produce art autonomously. In its early years AARON could only produce monochrome abstract drawings like this one, which was hand-coloured by Cohen. By the 1980s the program could produce some real-world shapes, including foliage and human figures.

Computer-generated drawing by AARON, with hand colouring by Harold Cohen
Given by the artist
Museum no. E326-2009
(07/12/2009 - 25/04/2010)
Harold Cohen born 1928
Untitled
1974

While at the Artificial Intelligence Lab, Cohen began developing a computer program called Aaron, in which he sought to codify the act of drawing. In its early years Aaron could only produce monochrome line drawings. This example was hand coloured by Cohen.

Computer-generated drawing with hand colouring
Given by Harold Cohen
Museum no. E.326-2009
Credit line
Given by Harold Cohen
Summary
Cohen trained as a painter and represented Britain at the 1966 Venice Biennale. In 1968 he became a visiting professor at the University of California at San Diego, where he was introduced to computer programming. In 1971 Cohen took up a post as visiting scholar in the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Stanford University. While at the Artificial Intelligence Lab, he began developing a computer program called Aaron, in which he sought to codify the act of drawing. In its early years Aaron could only produce monochrome line drawings. This example was hand coloured by Cohen.
Collection
Accession number
E.326-2009

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
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