Generative Art Timeline · Chapter 2: Modern Era (1850–1949)
1946
Birth of Early Digital Tools
This year saw three key developments in the technology that would enable computer art. • The first point plotters begin development: Electronics Associates, Inc. • “Light Gun,” precursor of the light pen, is developed by the military for the Whirlwind project.
Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random, fact-checked September 2026.
Sources
Movements
Technology and Art, computer art
Filed under
- Ideas
- military funding, tools
- Technologies
- light gun, light pen, plotter, Plotter Art, Whirlwind computer
- Organisations
- Electronic Associates, Inc.
Echoes across time
- 1960 · William Fetter Creates the First Computer Graphics
- 1963 · Military Agencies Create Early Computer-Generated Art
- 1967 · Charles Csuri Enters the Computer Art Scene with Series of Important Works
Le Random editorials
Le Random podcast
- Timeline Ch 2—Modern Era with Kate Vass — listen with transcript on Le Random (20 Jul 2023, 58 min). Chapter 2’s episode. Apple Podcasts · Spotify