1971 Computer‐Printed Calendar with Nude Figure

Name: Ragnar Digital, LLC
Price range: $

Unknown

1971

Print (Dot Matrix)

11"x14" green-bar stock fan-fold computer paper

Description

Nude pin-up calendars such as this example from 1971 were a staple of early ASCII art, so named because the images are formed from characters specified in the American Standard Code for Information Interchange.

Today these artifacts are understood as belonging to the history of computer folk art: works made and disseminated, usually anonymously and informally—and without official authorization—within the small community of staff members and students who had access to the necessary equipment in computer labs from the mid-1960s onwards. This was mostly done in their spare time, as a form of recreation. Programs were fed into the computers via punch cards and the output printed in ink on paper.

The prevalence of the pin-up calendar in early ASCII art can be connected to trends in popular culture at the time—the first issue of Playboy, featuring the “Playmate of the Month,” was published in 1953.