Desmond Paul Henry
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Desmond Paul Henry (1921–2004) was a
Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...
Lecturer and Reader in
Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
(1949–82). He was one of the first British artists to experiment with machine-generated visual effects at the time of the emerging global
computer art Computer art is any art in which computers play a role in production or display of the artwork. Such art can be an image, sound, animation, video, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, video game, website, algorithm, performance or gallery installation. Many traditi ...
movement of the 1960s (The Cambridge Encyclopaedia 1990 p. 289; Levy 2006 pp. 178–180). During this period, Henry constructed a succession of three electro-mechanical drawing machines from modified
bombsight A bombsight is a device used by military aircraft to drop bombs accurately. Bombsights, a feature of combat aircraft since World War I, were first found on purpose-designed bomber aircraft and then moved to fighter-bombers and modern tactical ...
analogue computer An analog computer or analogue computer is a type of computer that uses the continuous variation aspect of physical phenomena such as electrical, mechanical, or hydraulic quantities (''analog signals'') to model the problem being solved. In ...
s which were employed in
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
bombers to calculate the accurate release of bombs onto their targets (O'Hanrahan 2005). Henry's machine-generated effects resemble complex versions of the abstract, curvilinear graphics which accompany
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
's
Windows Media Player Windows Media Player (WMP) is the first media player and media library application that was developed by Microsoft for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on ...
. Henry's machine-generated effects may therefore also be said to represent early examples of
computer graphics Computer graphics deals with generating images with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great de ...
: "the making of line drawings with the aid of computers and drawing machines" (Franke 1971, p. 41). During the 1970s Henry focused on developing his Cameraless Photography experiments. He went on to make a fourth and a fifth drawing machine in 1984 and 2002 respectively. These later machines however, were based on a mechanical
pendulum A pendulum is a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate it back toward the ...
design and not bombsight computers (O'Hanrahan 2005).


Artistic career

It was thanks to artist
L. S. Lowry Laurence Stephen Lowry ( ; 1 November 1887 – 23 February 1976) was an English artist. His drawings and paintings mainly depict Pendlebury, Lancashire (where he lived and worked for more than 40 years) as well as Salford and its vicinity ...
, working in collaboration with the then director of Salford Art Gallery, A. Frape, that Henry's artistic career was launched in 1961 when he beat a thousand contestants to win a local art competition at Salford Art Gallery, entitled "London Opportunity." The picture that won Henry this prize was one based on his own photo-chemical technique, and not a machine drawing. The prize for winning this competition was a one-man exhibition show in London at the Reid Gallery. Lowry knew how crucial such a London show could be in bringing an artist to public attention. As one of the competition judges, Lowry visited Henry's home in Burford Drive, Manchester, to view his range of artistic work. (O'Hanrahan 2005). Here it was Lowry first saw Henry's Drawing Machine 1 in action. This led to Henry having "the world's first ever one-man machine show" (Henry) at Salford Art Gallery in July 1962. Lowry insisted Henry also include some machine drawings alongside his photo-chemical ones, in the London exhibition of August 1962 called "Ideographs" (O'Hanrahan 2005). This London exhibition was his prize for winning the "London Opportunity" competition. It was this London exhibition of machine-produced effects which led to Henry and his first drawing machine being included in the first ever programme in the
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...
's ''North at Six'' series and to his being approached by the American magazine
Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...
(O'Hanrahan 2005). Henry and his first drawing machine were to be featured in this magazine, but the article was scrapped following the assassination of US President
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
. The generally positive response his pictures received reflects the
zeitgeist In 18th- and 19th-century German philosophy, a ''Zeitgeist'' () ("spirit of the age") is an invisible agent, force or Daemon dominating the characteristics of a given epoch in world history. Now, the term is usually associated with Georg W. F. ...
of
technological optimism Technological utopianism (often called techno-utopianism or technoutopianism) is any ideology based on the premise that advances in science and technology could and should bring about a utopia, or at least help to fulfill one or another utopian i ...
of the 1960s (O'Hanrahan 2005).
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
of 17/9/62 described the images produced by this first machine as being "quite out of this world" and "almost impossible to produce by human hand". Henry's machine-generated effects went on to be exhibited at various venues during the 1960s, the most major being
Cybernetic Serendipity Cybernetic Serendipity was an exhibition of cybernetic art curated by Jasia Reichardt, shown at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, England, from 2 August to 20 October 1968, and then toured across the United States. Two stops in the United ...
(1968) held at the
Institute of Contemporary Arts The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch, the ICA c ...
(I.C.A) in London. This represented one of the most significant art and technology exhibitions of the decade (Goodman 1987). In this exhibition Drawing Machine 2 itself was included as an interactive exhibit. "Cybernetic Serendipity" then went on to tour the United States, where exhibition venues included the
Corcoran Gallery The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Overview The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design ...
in
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
and San Francisco's
Palace of Fine Arts The Palace of Fine Arts is a monumental structure located in the Marina District of San Francisco, California, originally constructed for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition to exhibit works of art. Completely rebuilt from 1964 to ...
(O'Hanrahan 2005). This second machine returned from its tour of the United States in 1972 in a complete state of disrepair (O'Hanrahan 2005). Such technical failures were not unusual in electric and motor-driven exhibition items (Rosenburg 1972). More recently, frequent mechanical and/or electronic computer breakdowns contributed to the decision to close Artworks, (
The Lowry The Lowry is a theatre and gallery complex at Salford Quays, Salford, Greater Manchester, England. It is named after the early 20th-century painter L. S. Lowry, known for his paintings of industrial scenes in North West England. The complex ope ...
, Salford Quays, Manchester, U.K) in March 2003 after only three years in operation as a permanent, technology-based, interactive exhibition (O'Hanrahan 2005).


Inspiration: the bombsight computer

The main component of each Henry drawing machine was the bombsight computer. These mechanical analogue computers represented some of the most important technological advancements of World War II. However, by the 1960s they already represented "old" technology when compared to the more modern
digital computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations ( computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These pro ...
s then available (O'Hanrahan 2005). The mechanical analogue bombsight computer was employed in
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
bomber aircraft to determine the exact moment bombs were to be released to hit their target. The bombardier entered information on air and wind speed, wind direction, altitude, angle of drift and bomb weight into the computer which then calculated the bomb release point, using a complex arrangement of
gyros Gyros—in some regions, chiefly North America, anglicized as a gyro (; el, γύρος, yíros/gyros, turn, )—is meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie, then sliced and served wrapped or stuffed in pita bread, along with ingredients suc ...
,
motors An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...
,
gear A gear is a rotating circular machine part having cut teeth or, in the case of a cogwheel or gearwheel, inserted teeth (called ''cogs''), which mesh with another (compatible) toothed part to transmit (convert) torque and speed. The basic pr ...
s linked to a separate
telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observe ...
(Jacobs 1996). It was in 1952 that Henry purchased his very first
Sperry Sperry may refer to: Places In the United States: *Sperry, Iowa, community in Des Moines County *Sperry, Missouri *Sperry, Oklahoma, town in Tulsa County *Sperry Chalet, historic backcountry chalet, Glacier National Park, Montana *Sperry Glacier, ...
bombsight computer, in mint condition, from an
army surplus Military surplus are goods, usually matériel, that are sold or otherwise disposed of when held in excess or are no longer needed by the military. Entrepreneurs often buy these goods and resell them at surplus stores. Usually the goods sold by ...
warehouse in Shude Hill, Manchester. This purchase was inspired by Henry's lifelong passion for all things mechanical, which had been further fuelled by seven years serving as a technical clerk with the
Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME ) is a corps of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the Army uses. The corps is described as the "British Army's Professional Engineers". History Prior to REME's for ...
during World War II (O'Hanrahan 2005). Henry so marvelled at the mechanical inner workings of this bombsight computer in motion, that nine years later he decided to capture its "peerless
parabola In mathematics, a parabola is a plane curve which is mirror-symmetrical and is approximately U-shaped. It fits several superficially different mathematical descriptions, which can all be proved to define exactly the same curves. One descript ...
s" (as Henry termed its inner workings), on paper. He then modified the bombsight to create the first drawing machine of 1961. This first machine was "cannibalised" (Henry) to create a second one in the autumn of 1962. A third machine was constructed in 1967 (O'Hanrahan 2005). These machines created complex, abstract, asymmetrical, curvilinear images, which were either left untouched as completed drawings or embellished by the artist's hand in response to the suggestive machine-generated effects. None of Henry's machines now remains in operational order (O'Hanrahan 2005).


The drawing machines

Each Henry drawing machine was based around an analogue bombsight computer in combination with other components which Henry happened to have acquired for his home-based
workshop Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the only ...
in Whalley Range, Manchester (O'Hanrahan 2005). Each machine took up to six weeks to construct and each drawing from between two hours to two days to complete. The drawing machines relied upon an external
electric power Electric power is the rate at which electrical energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt, one joule per second. Standard prefixes apply to watts as with other SI units: thousands, millions and billions o ...
source to operate either one or two
servo motor A servomotor (or servo motor) is a rotary actuator or linear actuator that allows for precise control of angular or linear position, velocity and acceleration. It consists of a suitable motor coupled to a sensor for position feedback. It also r ...
s which powered the synchronisation of suspended drawing implement(s) acting upon either a stationary or moving drawing table (O'Hanrahan 2005). With the first drawing machine Henry employed biros as the mark-making implement; however with the machines that followed he preferred to use Indian ink in technical tube pens, since these effects, in contrast to biro ink, do not risk fading upon prolonged exposure to sunlight (O'Hanrahan 2005).


How the drawing machines operated

Henry's drawing machines were quite unlike the conventional computers of the 1960s since they could not be pre-programmed nor store information (O'Hanrahan 2005). His machines relied instead, as did those of artist
Jean Tinguely Jean Tinguely (22 May 1925 – 30 August 1991) was a Swiss sculptor best known for his kinetic art sculptural machines (known officially as Métamatics) that extended the Dada tradition into the later part of the 20th century. Tinguely's art s ...
, upon a "mechanics of chance" (Pontus Hulten in Peiry 1997, p. 237). That is to say, they relied upon the chance relationship in the arrangement of each machine's mechanical components, the slightest alteration to which, (for example, a loosened
screw A screw and a bolt (see '' Differentiation between bolt and screw'' below) are similar types of fastener typically made of metal and characterized by a helical ridge, called a ''male thread'' (external thread). Screws and bolts are used to fa ...
), could dramatically impinge on the final result. In the words of Henry, he let each machine "do its own thing" in accordance with its ''
sui generis ''Sui generis'' ( , ) is a Latin phrase that means "of its/their own kind", "in a class by itself", therefore "unique". A number of disciplines use the term to refer to unique entities. These include: * Biology, for species that do not fit in ...
'' mechanical features, with often surprising and unpredictable results. The imprecise way Henry's machines were both constructed and operated ensured that their effects could not be
mass-produced Mass production, also known as flow production or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. Together with job production and batch ...
and would be infinitely varied (O'Hanrahan 2005). Such imprecise tools as Henry's machines, have been judged by some to enhance artistic creativity as opposed to modern
computer imaging Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is the use of computer graphics to create or contribute to images in art, printed media, video games, simulators, and visual effects in films, television programs, shorts, commercials, and videos. The images may ...
software which leaves no scope for artistic intuition (Smith 1997). Nor could Henry's machines have been accused of preventing the artist from exercising
aesthetic Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed th ...
choice. They were truly interactive, like modern computer graphic manipulation software. With a Henry drawing machine, the artist had general overall control and was free to exercise personal and artistic intuition at any given moment of his choosing during the drawing production process (O'Hanrahan, 2005). Both these elements of chance and interaction were in contrast to most other computer artists or
graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...
ers of the period, for whom the first stage in producing a digital computer graphic was to conceive the end product. The next stage was one where, "mathematical
formula In science, a formula is a concise way of expressing information symbolically, as in a mathematical formula or a ''chemical formula''. The informal use of the term ''formula'' in science refers to the general construct of a relationship betwee ...
e or geometric pattern manipulations (were) found to represent the desired lines. These were then programmed into a
computer language A computer language is a formal language used to communicate with a computer. Types of computer languages include: * Construction language – all forms of communication by which a human can specify an executable problem solution to a compu ...
, punched onto cards, and read into the computer" (Sumner 1968 p. 11).


Machine-generated effects

In 2001 Henry's machine-generated work was discussed in terms of the use made, since earliest times, of a range of tools for producing similar abstract, visual effects (O'Hanrahan 2001). Once Henry himself had beheld the visual effects produced by his first machine, he then strove to find possible precursors such as the organic forms described in natural form mathematics. (D'Arcy-Thompson 1917; Cook 1914). Henry also compared his machine-generated effects to those produced using earlier scientific and mathematical instruments such as: Suardi's Geometric Pen of 1750 (Adams 1813), Pendulum Harmonographs (Goold et al., 1909) and the Geometric Lathe as used in ornamental and bank-note
engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ...
(Holtzapffel 1973
894 __NOTOC__ Year 894 ( DCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Byzantine–Bulgarian War: Stylianos Zaoutzes, leading minister and ...
. His inclusion in 1968 in "Cybernetic Serendipity" enabled him to further contrast his machine-generated effects with similar though less complex and varied ones produced using a variety of tools. These included effects displayed on a visual display screen using a cathode-ray
oscilloscope An oscilloscope (informally a scope) is a type of electronic test instrument that graphically displays varying electrical voltages as a two-dimensional plot of one or more signals as a function of time. The main purposes are to display repetiti ...
( Ben F. Laposky in Cybernetic Serendipity 1968) and those produced using a mechanical
plotter A plotter is a machine that produces vector graphics drawings. Plotters draw lines on paper using a pen, or in some applications, use a knife to cut a material like vinyl or leather. In the latter case, they are sometimes known as a cutting pl ...
linked to either a digital (Lloyd Sumner in Cybernetic Serendipity 1968) or analogue computer (Maughan S. Mason in Cybernetic Serendipity 1968). However Henry's drawing machines, in contrast to other precision mark-making instruments like the
lathe A lathe () is a machine tool that rotates a workpiece about an axis of rotation to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, deformation, facing, and turning, with tools that are applied to the workpiece to c ...
and mechanical plotter, relied heavily upon the element of
chance Chance may refer to: Mathematics and Science * In mathematics, likelihood of something (by way of the Likelihood function and/or Probability density function). * ''Chance'' (statistics magazine) Places * Chance, Kentucky, US * Chance, Mary ...
both in their construction and function (O'Hanrahan 2005). This random characteristic ensured the unrepeatable quality of his machine-generated effects.


Fractal mathematics

Henry's introduction in 2001 to the aesthetic application of
fractal In mathematics, a fractal is a geometric shape containing detailed structure at arbitrarily small scales, usually having a fractal dimension strictly exceeding the topological dimension. Many fractals appear similar at various scales, as illu ...
mathematics (Briggs 1994
992 Year 992 ( CMXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Worldwide * Winter – A superflare from the sun causes an Aurora Borealis, with visibility as fa ...
provided Henry with the necessary terms of reference for describing the chance-based operational aspects of his machines. Fractal mathematics could also help describe the aesthetic appreciation of his machine-generated effects or "mechanical fractals" (Henry 2002) as he came to term them (O'Hanrahan 2005). Fractal systems are produced by a dynamic, non-linear system of interdependent and interacting elements; in Henry's case, this is represented by the mechanisms and motions of the drawing machine itself (O'Hanrahan 2005). In a fractal system, as in each Henry drawing machine, very small changes or adjustments to initial influences can have far-reaching effects. Fractal images appeal to our intuitive aesthetic appreciation of order and
chaos Chaos or CHAOS may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional elements * Chaos (''Kinnikuman'') * Chaos (''Sailor Moon'') * Chaos (''Sesame Park'') * Chaos (''Warhammer'') * Chaos, in ''Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy'' * Cha ...
combined. Each Henry machine-produced drawing bears all the hallmarks of a fractal image since they embody regularity and repetition coupled with abrupt changes and discontinuities (Briggs 1994
992 Year 992 ( CMXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Worldwide * Winter – A superflare from the sun causes an Aurora Borealis, with visibility as fa ...
. In other words, they exhibit self-similarity (similar details on different scales) and simultaneous order and chaos. These images also resemble fractal "
strange attractor In the mathematical field of dynamical systems, an attractor is a set of states toward which a system tends to evolve, for a wide variety of starting conditions of the system. System values that get close enough to the attractor values remain ...
s", since groups of curves present in the machine-generated effects tend to form clusters creating suggestive patterns (Briggs 1994
992 Year 992 ( CMXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Worldwide * Winter – A superflare from the sun causes an Aurora Borealis, with visibility as fa ...
. Fractal patterns, similar to Henry's machine-generated effects, have been found to exist when plotting
volcanic tremor A harmonic tremor is a sustained release of seismic and infrasonic energy typically associated with the underground movement of magma, the venting of volcanic gases from magma, or both. It is a long-duration release of seismic energy, with distin ...
s, weather systems, the
ECG Electrocardiography is the process of producing an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG), a recording of the heart's electrical activity. It is an electrogram of the heart which is a graph of voltage versus time of the electrical activity of the hear ...
of heart beats and the
electroencephalograph Electroencephalography (EEG) is a method to record an electrogram of the spontaneous electrical activity of the brain. The biosignals detected by EEG have been shown to represent the postsynaptic potentials of pyramidal neurons in the neocortex ...
ic data of brain activity (Briggs 1994
992 Year 992 ( CMXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Worldwide * Winter – A superflare from the sun causes an Aurora Borealis, with visibility as fa ...
. Henry found in fractals a means of both classifying his artistic activity and describing the aesthetic appreciation of his visual effects. Among the many artists who have previously employed what are now recognised as fractal images, are: "
Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2 ...
's dense swirls of energy around objects; the recursive geometries of Maritus Escher; the drip-paint, tangled abstractions of
Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was widely noticed for his " drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a hor ...
" (Briggs 1994
992 Year 992 ( CMXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Worldwide * Winter – A superflare from the sun causes an Aurora Borealis, with visibility as fa ...
p. 166).


Art and technology

Some would argue that scientific and technological advances have always influenced art in terms of its inspiration, tools and visual effects. In the words of Douglas Davis: "Art can no more reject either technology or science than it can the world itself" (Davis 1973, introduction). In his writings Henry himself often expressed his lifelong enthusiasm for fruitful collaborations between art and technology (Henry: 1962, 1964, 1969, 1972). Indeed, his first expression of such collaboration in 1962, preceded by five years the establishment of EAT (Experiments in Art and Technology, USA) in 1967. During the First
Machine Age The Machine Age is an era that includes the early-to-mid 20th century, sometimes also including the late 19th century. An approximate dating would be about 1880 to 1945. Considered to be at its peak in the time between the first and second wo ...
, prior to World War II, enthusiasm for technological advances was expressed by the Machine Aesthetic which heralded the
Modern Movement Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
(Banham 1960). Affiliated art movements of this time which shared aspects of the Machine Aesthetic included:
Purism Purism, referring to the arts, was a movement that took place between 1918 and 1925 that influenced French painting and architecture. Purism was led by Amédée Ozenfant and Charles Edouard Jeanneret (Le Corbusier). Ozenfant and Le Corbusier fo ...
in France,
Futurism Futurism ( it, Futurismo, link=no) was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such ...
in Italy (both of which celebrated the glories of modern machines and the excitement of speed),
Suprematism Suprematism (russian: Супремати́зм) is an early twentieth-century art movement focused on the fundamentals of geometry (circles, squares, rectangles), painted in a limited range of colors. The term ''suprematism'' refers to an abstra ...
,
Productivism Productivism or growthism is the belief that measurable Productivity (economics), productivity and economic growth, growth are the purpose of human organization (e.g., work), and that "more production is necessarily good". Critiques of product ...
in Russia,
Constructivism Constructivism may refer to: Art and architecture * Constructivism (art), an early 20th-century artistic movement that extols art as a practice for social purposes * Constructivist architecture, an architectural movement in Russia in the 1920s a ...
,
Precisionism Precisionism was a modernist art movement that emerged in the United States after World War I. Influenced by Cubism, Purism, and Futurism, Precisionist artists reduced subjects to their essential geometric shapes, eliminated detail, and often u ...
in North America and kinetic sculpture (Meecham and Sheldon 2000). By the 1960s, in the Second Machine Age, technology provided not only the inspiration for art production but above all its tools (Popper 1993), as reflected by the Art and Technology movement in the United States. Adherents to this movement employed only the very latest available computer equipment. In this early phase of computer art, programmers became artists and artists became programmers to experiment with the computer's creative possibilities (Darley, 1990). Since Henry worked in comparative artistic and scientific isolation, he did not have access to the latest technological innovations, in contrast to those working, for example, at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
(O'Hanrahan 2005). By the 1970s, the earlier enthusiasm for technology witnessed in the 60s gave way to the
post-modern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...
loss of faith in technology as its destructive effects, both in war and on the
environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...
, became more apparent (Lucie-Smith 1980). Goodman (1987) suggests that it is since 1978 that a second generation of computer artists may be recognised; a generation which no longer needs to be electronically knowledgeable or adept because the "software does it for them" (Goodman 1987, p. 47). This is in contrast to Henry who had to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to manipulate and modify the components of the bombsight computers in order to construct and operate the drawing machines (O'Hanrahan 2005). During the 1980s, the application in computers of the
microchip An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny M ...
(developed by 1972) increased the affordability of a home computer and led to the development of interactive computer graphics programmes like
Sketchpad Sketchpad (a.k.a. Robot Draftsman) is a computer program written by Ivan Sutherland in 1963 in the course of his PhD thesis, for which he received the Turing Award in 1988, and the Kyoto Prize in 2012. It pioneered human–computer interaction ...
and various Paintbox systems (Darley 1991). During this period, computer art gave way almost completely to computer graphics as the computer's imaging capabilities became exploited both industrially and commercially and moved into entertainment related spheres, e.g.:
Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californi ...
, Lucas Films. (Goodman 1987) The computer once again became, for some, an undisputed artistic tool in its own right (Goodman 1987). This renewed enthusiasm in the computer's artistic possibilities has been further reflected by the emergence towards the end of the twentieth century of various forms of cyber, virtual, or digital art, examples of which include
algorithmic art Algorithmic art or algorithm art is art, mostly visual art, in which the design is generated by an algorithm. Algorithmic artists are sometimes called ''algorists''. Overview Algorithmic art, also known as computer-generated art, is a subset o ...
and fractal art. By the twenty-first century, digitally produced and/or manipulated images came to be exhibited in galleries as veritable works of art in their own right (O'Hanrahan 2005).


Legacy

Henry's drawing machines of the 1960s represent a remarkable innovation in the field of art and technology for a variety of reasons. Firstly, the bombsight analogue computer provided not only the inspiration but also the main tool for producing highly original visual effects (O'Hanrahan 2005). Secondly, his machines' reliance on a mechanics of chance, as opposed to pre-determined computer programmes, ensured the unrepeatable and unique quality of his infinitely varied machine-generated effects or "Machine Pollocks" as Henry called them. (O'Hanrahan 2005). Thirdly, the spontaneous, interactive potential of his drawing machines' modus operandi pre-empted by some twenty years this particular aspect of later computer graphic manipulation software (O'Hanrahan 2005). As a result, The drawing machines and their visual effects represent pioneering precursors to the Digital Art produced by today's computer software. Finally, Henry was never artistically inspired by the graphic potential of the modern digital computer (O'Hanrahan 2005). He much preferred the direct interaction afforded by the clearly visible interconnecting mechanical components of the earlier analogue computer and as a consequence of his drawing machines also. This was in stark contrast to the invisible and indirect workings of the later digital computer: "the mechanical analogue computer, was a work of art in itself, involving a most beautiful arrangement of gears, belts, cams differentials and so on- it still retained in its working a visual attractiveness which has now vanished in the modern electronic counterpart; … I enjoyed seeing the machine work…". (Henry, 1972) In view of these considerations, Henry's 1960's electro-mechanical drawing machines may be said to not only reflect the early experimental phase of Computer Art and computer graphics but to also provide an important artistic and technological link between two distinct ages of the twentieth century: the earlier Mechanical/Industrial Age and the later Electronic/Digital Age (O'Hanrahan 2005).


See also

*
Interactive art Interactive art is a form of art that involves the spectator in a way that allows the art to achieve its purpose. Some interactive art installations achieve this by letting the observer walk through, over or around them; others ask the artist ...
*
L.S. Lowry Laurence Stephen Lowry ( ; 1 November 1887 – 23 February 1976) was an English artist. His drawings and paintings mainly depict Pendlebury, Lancashire (where he lived and worked for more than 40 years) as well as Salford and its vicinity ...
*
Fractal art Fractal art is a form of algorithmic art created by calculating fractal objects and representing the calculation results as still digital images, animations, and media. Fractal art developed from the mid-1980s onwards. It is a genre of computer ...


References

* Adams, George (1813), ''Geometrical and Graphical Essays'', W & S. Jones, London. (Courtesy of the Science Museum Library, London). * Banham, Reyner (1996
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914 __NOTOC__ Year 914 ( CMXIV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Spring – Empress Zoe Karbonopsina leads a palace coup at Constantino ...
, ''The Curves of Life: An account of spiral formations and their application to the growth in nature, science and art'', Dover, New York. * ''Cybernetic Serendipity'', xh.cat(1968). Reichardt, Jasia (ed.), Studio International, Special Issue, London. * Darley, Andy (1990), "From Abstraction to Simulation" in Philip Hayward (ed.)(1994 990 ''Culture, Technology and Creativity in the Late Twentieth Century'', John Libbey & Company. London, pp. 39–64. * Darley, Andy (1991), 'Big Screen, Little Screen' in Ten-8:vol.2, no.2: Digital Dialogues, (ed. Bishton), pp. 80–84. * Davis, Douglas (1973) ''Art and The Future'', Praeger, New York. * Franke, H.W (1971), ''Computer graphics, Computer Art'', Phaedon, Oxford, p. 41. * Goodman, Cynthia (1987), Digital Visions: Computers and Art, Abrams, New York. * Goold, J., Benham, C.E., Kerr, R., Wilberforce, L.R., (1909), ''Harmonic Vibrations'', Newton & Co., London. * Henry, D.P. (1962), ''A New Project for Art''. Unpublished article submitted to Today 04/03/62. * Henry, D.P. (1964), "Art and Technology", in Bulletin of the Philosophy of Science Group, Newman Association, No. 53. * Henry, D.P (1969), "The End or the Beginning?" in Solem (Manchester Students' Union Magazine) pp. 25–27. * Henry, D.P (1972), ''Computer graphics: a case study''. (lecture given to Aberdeen University art students). * Holtzapffel, John Jacob (1973
894 __NOTOC__ Year 894 ( DCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Byzantine–Bulgarian War: Stylianos Zaoutzes, leading minister and ...
, ''The Principles and Practice of Ornamental or Complex Turning'', Dover, New York. * Jacobs, Peter (1996), ''The Lancaster Story'', Silverdale Books, Leicester. * Levy, David (2006) ''Robots Unlimited-Life in a Virtual Age'', A.K.Peters, Wellesley, USA, pp. 178–180. * Lucie-Smith, Edward (1980), ''Art in the Seventies'', Phaedon, Oxford. * Meecham, Pam and Sheldon, Julie (2000), ''Modern Art: A Critical Introduction'', Routledge, London. * O’Hanrahan, Elaine (2001)(interview) ''Intercultural Drawing Practice: the Art School Response'' In Jagjit Chuhan, (ed.) (2001), ''Responses: Intercultural Drawing Practice'', Cornerhouse Publications, Manchester, pp.: 40–47. * O’Hanrahan, Elaine (2005), ''Drawing Machines: The machine produced drawings of Dr. D. P. Henry in relation to conceptual and technological developments in machine-generated art (UK 1960–1968)''. Unpublished MPhil. Thesis. John Moores University, Liverpool. * Peiry, Lucienne (1997), ''Art Brut- The Origins of Outsider Art'', Flammarion, Paris. * Popper, Frank (1993), ''Art of the Electronic Age'', Thames and Hudson, London. * Rosenberg, Harold (1972), ''The De-definition of Art'', University of Chicago Press, Chicago. * Smith, Brian Reffin (1997), ''Post-modem Art, or: Virtual Reality as Trojan Donkey, or: horsetail tartan literature groin art'' in Stuart Mealing (ed.) (1997) Computers and Art, Intellect Books, Bristol, pp. 97–117. * Sumner, Lloyd (1968), ''Computer Art and Human Response'', Paul B. Victorius, Charlottesville, Virginia. * Thompson, D'Arcy Wentworth (1961
917 __NOTOC__ Year 917 ( CMXVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * August 20 – Battle of Achelous: A Byzantine expeditionary fo ...
, ''
On Growth and Form ''On Growth and Form'' is a book by the Scottish mathematical biologist D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson (1860–1948). The book is long – 793 pages in the first edition of 1917, 1116 pages in the second edition of 1942. The book covers many topi ...
'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.


External links

*Artist's Website http://www.desmondhenry.com/
Desmond Paul Henry: How World War II Changed One Man's Life for the BetterWorks held by the Victoria and Albert Museum
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Henry, Desmond 1921 births 2004 deaths British digital artists Fractal artists Analog computers Academics of the Victoria University of Manchester Mathematical artists 20th-century British philosophers Ballpoint pen art