Art History and the Criticism of Computer-Generated Images

As the field of computer graphics expands, it tends to be taught in a manner that is increasingly isolated from the history of art. The author shows how computer graphics can reconnect to wider sources of meaning in three arenas: (1) continuous traditions spanning Western painting and contemporary rendering techniques, (2) linear perspective, and (3) drawing. The comparisons are used to demonstrate that the history of art is intimately associated with the exploration of computer-assisted imagery, even though it remains largely absent from its pedagogy.