From Mechanical to Digital: A History of Digital Art

Klara Kovarova
Aug 23, 2017 · 4 min read

When you enter any museum of modern and contemporary art, you will, probably, encounter at least one piece of digital art. But what is this form/medium of art and how did we get here?

Cylinder (Franklin) by Leo Villareal

What is art anyway?

The ‘big question’ is always: what is art? This question brings up many discussions in the history of the reproductive arts, whether this is prints, photographs, or digital art. The quintessential modern view of art is the one-of- a-kind quality and limited availability. For example, think of the Mona Lisa (c. 1503–1519) by Leonardo da Vinci, Guernica (1937) by Pablo Picasso, and The Kiss (1907–1908) by Gustave Klimt. With the
advent of prints, photography, and digital media, the reproductive mediums have been constantly disrupting this notion.

Are prints a good investment?

Generally talking, no it isn’t. But, they are a few exceptions to the general rule. Some of the most famous prints were produced as early as the seventeenth-century. One prime example is Rembrandt’s The Hundred Guilder Print (c. 1649), which depicts various scenes from the Bible. This print was valued so greatly that it was named after the high price (100 guilder) that it cost to purchase one print. Although most prints did not sell for such a high price, the value of prints increased over time, and continued to have a significant impact on the evolution of the concept of art.

“The Hundred Guilders Print” by Rembrandt (c. 1649), The Metropolitan Museum
“Horse in Motion” by Eadweard Muybridge (c. 1886), Harry Ransom Center

Is photography a digital medium?

Following the prints, photography, developed in the early nineteenth-century, altered not only how we see the world, but also how art was produced and what medium it could be expressed in. Artists were able to use photography as a medium with which to better understand the world and to minimise the need for live models. One of the most iconic pieces is by Eadweard Muybridge, who photographed, for the first time, horses in motion, showing that a certain points none of the hooves are touching the ground.
Digital art, in many ways, continues the challenges posed by prints and photographs, thus expanding what art is and demonstrating endless visual, experiential, and aural possibilities.

So, what is this thing we call digital art?

It is an artistic work or practice where digital technology (computers, various software, television and film media, photography, digital drawing tablets, etc.) is a key part of the creative or presentation process. The available digital ‘tools’ have greatly altered how art is produced (including painting, drawing, sculpture), how it is presented (such as projected onto a screen), and has created many new art forms (net art, virtual reality, etc.).

“Oscillon 40” by Ben Laposky (1952), Victoria and Albert Museum

The precursors of digital art can be seen in the 1950s, when many artists and designs used mechanical devices and analogue computers in ways that we might categorise as something akin to digital art. One such work includes Oscillon 40 (1952) by Ben Laposky. Laposky used an oscilloscope (an instrument that displays the shape of electric signal waves) to alter
electronic waves as they appeared on a screen. These early works of digital art focused on geometric forms and structure.

By the 1970s, artists began to experiment with their own programming, rather than relying on computer programmers. This decade also began to see the integration of digital media and courses in arts schools. Andy Warhol, who used a Commodore Amiga to manipulate an image of Debbie Harry, is a famous early example of digital art. This image was captured in
monochrome and the technology was used to add colour.

Andy Warhol with Debbie Harry at the 1985 Amiga Launch at Lincoln Center — Computer History Museum

The 1980s brought digital technologies to the home, particularly with the births of Apple and Microsoft in the late ’70s. This is when digital art took a large turn and grew into the multi- faceted and dynamic medium we know today. Some interesting artists and works to point out are: James Faure Walker, who incorporates painting and computer generated images; Leo
Villareal with his large scale illuminated installations using LEDs and computer programmed imagery; Manfred Mohr, a pioneer of digital art based on algorithms; and Vera Molar, one of the earliest computer artists, just to name a few. This area of art keeps growing, offering challenging and exciting opportunities to artists, programmers, museums, and us, the
audience.

The direction that digital art takes in the future will be exciting to follow, especially when we consider the technological developments in our own personal use items such as smartphones, computers, self-driving cars, and more.

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