Desmond Paul Henry

Life & Legacy

Desmond Paul Henry (5 July 1921 – 28 October 2004) was a Manchester University Lecturer and Reader in Philosophy (1949–82). He was one of the first British artists to experiment with machine-generated visual effects at the time of the emerging global computer art movement of the 1960s (The Cambridge Encyclopaedia 1990 p. 289; Levy 2006 pp. 178–180). During this period, Henry constructed a succession of three electro-mechanical drawing machines from modified bombsight analogue computers which were employed in World War II bombers to calculate the accurate release of bombs onto their targets (O'Hanrahan 2005). Henry's machine-generated effects resemble complex versions of the abstract, curvilinear graphics which accompany Microsoft's Windows Media Player. Henry's machine-generated effects may therefore also be said to represent early examples of computer graphics: "the making of line drawings with the aid of computers and drawing machines" (Franke 1971, p. 41). Henry often subsequently added hand-embellishments to his machine-generated effects in response to their suggestive features.

During the 1970s Henry focused on developing his Cameraless Photography experiments. He went on to make a fourth drawing machine in 1984 and a fifth pendulum design one in 2002 .