Charles Csuri created pioneering computer graphics systems and is recognised for introducing figuration into the language of computer graphics. Well known as “The father of Computer Art” he had an extraordinary talent to engage people from different disciplines. Csuri's oeuvre shows us the magical interplay of interdisciplinary work and the enthusiasm of an artist and programmer, who had the vision to explore Computer Art beyond the boundaries and pushing visions forward.  

There is absolute silence in the class… With a charcoal in the hand, the young Charles Csuri accurately studies the physiognomy of body. We are in the 1940s, and Csuri has begun his education in classical art at the Ohio State University.

“I was taught anatomy, academic perspective, and how to make the flesh tones of the model using the colours alizarin crimson, meridian green and titanium white. […] Professor Hopkins told us stories about his life as a young artist in Paris where he met Degas and Renoir, and his experiences offered us a very romantic view of the artist.”¹ — Charles Csuri  

A major influence on Csuri's development was Professor Hoyt L. Sherman² who had radical ideas about visual organization in art based on visual perception and Gestalt psychology. Hoyt strived to break the rules – at least in the context of academia.  It was a time of upheavals and in this time Roy Lichtenstein and Charles Csuri were fellow students at the university and became friends. 
Sherman’s drawing class introduced the young artists to the concept of kinaesthesia and proprioception – the awareness of position and movement in space that our minds use to orientate. His course was conducted in a darkened studio setting, featuring a screen with table easels in front. Building on the Gestalt perceptual principle that to see an entire image one must apprehend its constituent patterns and arrangements, Sherman sought to instil in his students a sense of positional relationships.³ 
Between 1955 and 1965 Csuri exhibited various artworks in New York City. He had two solo shows, and his work was presented in numerous group exhibitions involving several galleries. Already at the beginning of his artistic career he was driven by the need for experimentation and creation, which flow through his entire life’s work:  

In 1955 Charles Csuri, driven by intense curiosity began experimenting with computers. His friend Jack Mitten who was a professor of engineering, patiently explained to him computers and their applications for science and engineering. They began a dialog about computers and art which continued over a period of eight years.
One event in 1965 at Ohio State University was to influence Charles Csuri's future work. He discovered an image of a young woman's face created by engineers using a computer and a typewriter that could write on paper in ten shades of grey. Csuri saw the picture and understood how it was produced by the computer and recognized the implication and significance for art.
For the next three years, from 1965 to 1968 Csuri used computer graphics as an artistic medium which led to his involvement with the exhibition “Cybernetic Serendipity” in London 1968. There he discussed with scientist's possibilities of digital image generation and processing and scientific visualization. Charles Csuri himself was aware of his transformation and explained his personal devotion to traditional art and new media in a poetic way:  

During the just mentioned creation period Csuri produced many drawings, which were mathematically transformed, as well as the renowned eleven-minute computer-animated movie “Hummingbird” (1968). Hummingbird is one of the earliest computer-animated films.  In the same year the artwork received an award at the fourth International Experimental Film Competition and the MUMOK in New York purchased the film for its permanent collection.⁶ Like the Hummingbird the Sine Curve man refers to Csuri's traditional academic training which was characterized by naturalistic representations of humanistic motives. Transferring figuration into the language of computer graphics led to the outcome, that Csuri established his own aesthetic language which gained recognition of its value within the art scene.⁷

A notable example of how closely Csuri's art was interwoven with an interdisciplinary academic circle is the sculpture “Numeric Milling”, which Csuri created in 1968 in close cooperation with Prof. Leslie Miller, his colleague at the Computer Graphic Research Group. He was one of the first artists to use a computer programme in conjunction with engineering milling machine to produce a wooden sculpture. The sculpture is named after the process of its creation: “Numeric Milling”.⁸ Since the artist's death early 2022, his daughter Caroline Csuri has administered his artistic and intellectual estate. She emphasises the significance of the work within Csuri's oeuvre:

How can we imagine the technical process Numeric Milling”? Csuri’s colleague Prof. Leslie Miller wrote code for an IBM 7094 Computer that enabled the artist to vary the parameters of work’s production.  created within the computer, specifications of a visual sculpture that he then took to a local company that had a three-axis numerically controlled milling machine. With this device Csuri turned his self-designed virtual sculpture into a real object, programmatically milled out of a large piece of wood.⁹

Csuri's curiosity and joy in experimentation sometimes led to the unexpected, as in case of the surface structure of the sculpture: “While the device was capable of making a smooth surface, I decided it was the best to leave the tool marks for the paths.”¹⁰, Csuri noted. His pioneering spirit was always accompanied by the possibility for the unexcepted new, which was achieved mainly through an intellectual process followed by playful experimentation, open mindedness and flexibility to break the art scene’s conventions.

After the period of experimentation with digital images, plotter drawings and sculptures, Charles Csuri became enthusiastic in his research. He had endless ideas for how he could use electronic devices to create and manipulate images and recognized early on that bringing together experts from various fields would allow for a great creative potential.

Csuri, later known as the father of computer art, formed interdisciplinary research groups.¹¹ His stubborn need to develop new artistic and technological approaches in the field of Computer Art led to his founding of the Computer Graphics Research Group (CGRG), which evolved into todays Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD). The financial resources allowed him to build a laboratory to advance the state of the art in computer graphics.  Csuri himself learned the computer language FORTRAN and other technical processes.¹²

In 1987 Csuri returned to do computer art as well as traditional art, including works that combine oil paintings and drawings with digital computer-generated art. “The Muse” (1990) is an example of Csuri’s later work, combining heavy impasto painting with 3D rendering in a technique called “texture mapping”.¹³

The effect is created by a process in which the artist maps the surface of his oil paintings, translating the texture of the painting into data. Three-dimensional space offered Csuri more opportunities to explore and create something new. He could use objects in different shapes and arrange them to achieve a spacial quality.¹⁴

Maurizio Calvesi, a highly regarded art historian and art critic highlighted Csuri’s artwork in the prestigious Italian magazine Art e Dossier (November 1990), discussed his close ties to New York artist circles around figures such as Roy Lichtenstein and Allan Kaprow.¹⁵

Csuri's art subsequently moved away from traditional media. From 1996, he worked exclusively with computers. By 2001, Csuri turned his attention to his previous interest in coincidence and chance. His art emerged in the process of a permanent interplay with the computer, alternating between exercising control and letting go, which eventually leads to randomness and results in an opportunity for new beauty in the form of generative art.¹⁶

What remains are traces of an intense drive and an unstoppable spirit of discovery that made Csuri a pioneer in his field. The confrontation with his analogue – as well digitally generated art can inspire each person to dive into the field of computer art and to discover the humanistic spirit where we do not suspect it.

1 Csuri, Charles; Freedman, Kerry J. (1989). Oral history interview with Charles A. Csuri. Charles Babbage Institute. Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/107236.  

2 Hoyt L. Sherman (1903–1981) was an American artist and professor. He is widely credited with having a serious influence on the work of Roy Lichtenstein, who was a student of his during the forties.

3 Bell, Clare: Mock Insensitivity: Roy Lichtenstein and  the Economics of Form, in: Roy Lichtenstein. Outdoor Painted Sculpture, S. 6-7.

4 Csuri, Charles; Freedman, Kerry J. (1989). Oral history interview with Charles A. Csuri. Charles Babbage Institute. Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/107236.  

5 ibid.

6 Glowski, Janice M. (Ed.): Charles A. Csuri. Beyond Boundaries, 1963 – present, Boston/Massachusetts 2006, S. 27, 39.  

7 MoMA: Charles Csuris Hummingbirdm URL: https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/3903 (Stand, 19.04.2023).https://news.artnet.com/buyers-guide/charles-csuri-artnet-auctions-2157803

8 Lambert, Susan (Hg.): Provocative Plastics: Their Value in Design and Material Culture, Berlin 2021, S. 55-56.

9 Sito, Tom: Moving innovation. A history of computer animation. Cambridge/Massachusetts 2013, S. 32.  

10 Hoskin, Stephen: 3D printing for artists, designers and makers. London 2018, S. 27.  

11 Carlson, Wayne: Dialogue and Creativity: The Faces of Collaboration, in: Charles A. Csuri. Beyond Boundaries, 1963 – present, Boston, Massachusetts 2006, S. 85-89.

12 ibid. 

13 Artnet: Explore Three Standout Works by Charles Csuri, a Pioneer of Digital Art, Live Now on Artnet Auctions (10.08.2022),URL: https://news.artnet.com/buyers-guide/charles-csuri-artnet-auctions-2157803
(Stand, 19.04.2023).

14 Csuri, Charles; Freedman, Kerry J. (1989). Oral history interview with Charles A. Csuri. Charles Babbage Institute. Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/107236.  

15 Artnet: Explore Three Standout Works by Charles Csuri, a Pioneer of Digital Art, Live Now on Artnet Auctions, URL: https://news.artnet.com/buyers-guide/charles-csuri-artnet-auctions-2157803 (Stand, 19.04.2023).

16 Glowski, Janice M.: Art history, URL: https://csuriproject.osu.edu/About/arthistory (02.05.2023).