DRAWING MACHINES
Since the beginning, machines have been developed with the goal of reducing subjective human interpretation. This thought has been with us since the 17th century, and has basically been unchanged into today. And of course, since the beginning, humans have made machines that made drawings.
We look at two early drawing machines, the camera llucida and the velo.
CAMERA LUCIDA
The camera lucida was invented towards the first part of the 19th century. Even from this early date, there was the desire to remove the human completely from the process. And if you did so, then the resulting graphic would be naturally more accurate, truthful and better.
The camera lucida was a combination of telescope and overhead projector. The picture that you wanted to produce was projected onto your piece of paper, and all you had to do was trace the image. This created a more or less voyuer out of the human and made the human part of the machine. I can’t help but marvel at this very touching human propensity that if you could just create a machine, then all will be solved. Or if you can simply remove the human from it all, then it will be better. And this was thought of in the 1830s.
All you had to do was make a machine to enable someone with no drawing skills to be able to produce a drawing equal to someone with prodigious drawing skills. Presto. Certainly the camera ludica can be seen as either a very early xerox or computer drawing machine.
VELO
Alberti, who is introduced elsewhere, invented a device called a velo. This consisted of a set of strings that the artist suspended in front of the object or scene that is being painted. By manipulating the strings. you align them with the outlines of the object. Thus you are able to create a smaller proportionally correct image trace which you can then use to paint a geometrically accurate picture. It is interesting to note that really the only thing that is being manipulated is scale; once you have that correct, then your artwork is then accurate as the eye reads the artwork the same way that the eye sees in three dimensions.
Do you have anymore aritcles about the history of art making machines throughout your wesite?
Thank you, Karina, for your question. The pages EYE DRAWING, TRANSPARENT MACHINE DRAWING, and SECRET KNOWLEDGE give a bit more attention to machines and drawing.
Thank you, Jason, for this thought provocation. After looking thru your site, thanks also for turning me on to Tobisch’s “Connections between the Geological Scieneces and Visual Art.” I wish you high creative energy.