The first female computer artist, Mary Ellen Bute. Over the past year, since being discovered at @CtrVisualMusic, the pieces from this small group of oscilloscope works have now been shown at Art Basel and made their way into the hands of a couple of the best collections. Bute is slowly being recognized in her rightful place as the first female computer artist (with works ca. 1950-1952). There are only ~20 prints and negatives in existence (as opposed to the hundreds Ben Lapoksy made), so the works are very precious. Here are the 7 oscilloscope works + production materials from the film Abstronic that we hold in the collection.

Oscilloscope art is trending thanks to the incredible works at Art Basel by @_deafbeef and the 2 Mary Ellen Bute oscilloscope works (presented by @artmetaofficial) that sold out in the first few minutes of the fair. Oscilloscope art is perhaps the earliest form of computer art (early 1950s). There are 5 known artists that created these works in the 1950s. - Mary Ellen Bute - Hy Hirsh - Ben Laposky - Herbert Franke @Foundation_HWF - Norman McLaren

Introducing our Mary Ellen Bute collection. While many collectors (and written histories) credit Ben Laposky's oscilloscope photos as the very first visual electronic/computer art, that may not be true. Artist/Filmmaker Mary Ellen Bute also created oscilloscope photos at the same time, and perhaps even earlier, with her partner Ted Nemeth. ca. 1950/1951, while working on her Abstronic film, Bute (thanks to Bell Labs engineer Ralph Potter) used an oscilloscope to manipulate and photograph these images of electronic pulses as artwork. It's very difficult to pin down the exact dates Bute and Laposky started creating their images and to know who was first. Bute and Nemeth's photos are undated, though we know they were created in the years leading up to her film release in 1952. And Laposky is often credited with making images in 1952, though he is said to have created earlier images in private. Regardless, we're excited to finally get Bute her credit as not only a pioneer of computer/electronic art, but as perhaps the first. (examples and links below)