Generative Art Timeline · Chapter 5: Artist-Programmer Era (1970s)
1970
Women Pioneers Bring Naturalism to Computer Art

The decade of the ’70s saw a group of Women pioneers, specifically Grace C. Hertlein, Joan Truckenbrod, Colette Bangert and Lillian Schwartz, infuse the computer art aesthetic with a more naturalist touch.
This marked a transition away from the more rigid and precise symmetrical grids of the ’60s.
Emblematic of this move were two foundational works in 1970:
Grace C. Hertlein’s The Field and Colette and Charles Bangert’s Large Landscape: Ochre and Black.
Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random, fact-checked September 2026.
Sources
People
Charles "Jeff" Bangert, Colette Bangert, Grace C. Hertlein, Joan Truckenbrod, Lillian Schwartz
Movements
computer art, generative art
Filed under
- Ideas
- generative art, landscape, nature
- Technologies
- computer art
- People
- Charles "Jeff" Bangert, Colette Bangert, Grace C. Hertlein, Joan Truckenbrod, Lillian Schwartz
- Works
- Large Landscape: Ochre and Black, The Field, untitled
Related moments
Echoes across time
- 2021 · Garden, Monoliths by Zancan
- 1991 · Sociotecture, Joan Truckenbrod
- 1906 · Cézanne Begins His Mont Sainte-Victoire Series
Le Random editorials
- Colette Bangert on Growing Visually, Peter Bauman, May 7, 2024
Le Random podcast
- Timeline Ch 5—Artist-Programmer Era (1970s) with Joan Truckenbrod, Hans Dehlinger & Anika Meier — listen with transcript on Le Random (14 Jan 2024, 65 min). Featuring Joan Truckenbrod. Chapter 5’s episode. Apple Podcasts · Spotify