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Amsterdam Suite
Cohen, Harold, born 1928 - Enlarge image
Amsterdam Suite; Amsterdam Suite A
- Object:
Drawing
- Place of origin:
USA, USA (probably, made)
- Date:
1977 (drawn)
1982 (hand-colouring) - Artist/Maker:
Cohen, Harold, born 1928 (artist)
- Materials and Techniques:
Computer-generated drawing with hand colouring
- Credit Line:
Given by Harold Cohen
- Museum number:
E.327-2009
- Gallery location:
Prints & Drawings Study Room, level C, case MB2E, shelf DR84
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.
This appears to be one of the original computer drawings for a series of prints that Cohen created for a one-man show at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 1977-8. At the time, his Aaron computer program was only able to produce monochrome line-drawings. According to the artist, the image created in 1977 was subsequently hand-coloured, then signed and dated by him in 1982. The Museum also holds a black and white print of the same line-drawing, entitled "Amsterdam Suite A" and produced in 1977. (E.328-2009).
In the exhibition, Cohen also exhibited his "turtle", a computer-controlled drawing device that moved around on top of a large sheet of paper. The "turtle" was popular with museum visitors, but Cohen decided to retire it soon afterwards.
