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The Picasso of the machine age

A philosophy lecturer and part-time artist, Desmond Paul Henry saw the potential of wartime technological advances to be an instrument of beauty. He created a series of electromechanical drawing machines in the 1960s, harnessing the inner workings of an analogue bombsight used in World War II bomber planes.

His machines produced a vast array of unique, abstract, curvilinear visual effects, creating art that featured in exhibitions on both sides of the Atlantic.

Described by The 91Ö±²¥ Evening News in 1962 as "the Picasso of the machine age", Henry's work would help pave the way for the digital art we have today.


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