Untitled Oscilloscope Photograph (negative #1)

Name: Ragnar Digital, LLC
Price range: $

Mary Ellen Bute Ted Nemeth

1951-1952 (c.)

Oscilloscope/Light Photo

Photographic Negative

Highlights Historical Firsts NotAComputer

Description

Mary Elen Bute’s Oscilloscope Photographs (c. 1951-1952) signal the beginnings of printed art made with electric machines. By manipulating and photographing images of electronic pulses using an oscilloscope, Bute created a series of images that captured electronic squiggles, dances, and curves. Bute would later use many of these synced, pulsing signals as the basis for her film masterpiece, Abstronics (1952).

While not technically computer generated (though this is up for debate), oscilloscope artwork from the early 1950s is often regarded by collectors and curators as the very beginnings of computer and digital art.

Other oscilloscope/light photos in the Ragnar Digital collection were created around this same time, including #18 of the well-known Oscillograms by Ben Laposky (c. 1954), Oszillogrammes by Herbert Franke (c. 1955), and photographs by Alexandre Vitkine (c. 1960).

Yet among these pioneering early works, Bute’s Abstronic series is perhaps the earliest.

Acquired from the Center for Visual Music

Untitled Double Oscilloscope Photograph (negative… Mary Ellen Bute / Ted Nemeth 1951-1952 (c.) Oscilloscope/Light Photo

Four-Panel Oscilloscope Photo Mary Ellen Bute / Ted Nemeth 1958-1959 (c.) Oscilloscope/Light Photo

Untitled Double Oscilloscope Photograph… Mary Ellen Bute / Ted Nemeth 1951-1952 (c.) Oscilloscope/Light Photo

Untitled Oscilloscope Photograph (negative #2) Mary Ellen Bute / Ted Nemeth 1951-1952 (c.) Oscilloscope/Light Photo

Abstronic Mary Ellen Bute 1952 Film/Animation

Abstronic Set Mary Ellen Bute / Ted Nemeth 1951-1952 (c.) Oscilloscope/Light Photo

Abstronic Production Material Mary Ellen Bute 1952 Photograph

Abstronic Sketch #2 Mary Ellen Bute / Ted Nemeth 1951-1952 (c.) Oscilloscope/Light Photo