When Computers Look at Art

David G. Stork

New computer methods have been used to shed light on a number of recent controversies in the study of art. For example, computer fractal analysis has been used in authentication studies of paintings attributed to Jackson Pollock recently discovered by Alex Matter. Computer wavelet analysis has been used for attribution of the contributors in Perugino’s Holy Family. An international group of computer and image scientists is studying the brushstrokes in paintings by van Gogh for detecting forgeries. Sophisticated computer analysis of perspective, shading, color and form has shed light on David Hockney’s bold claim that as early as 1420, Renaissance artists employed optical devices such as concave mirrors to project images onto their canvases.

Dr.David G. Stork, Distinguished Research Scientist and Research Director at Rambus Labs, is a graduate in physics of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Maryland at College Park. He has published eight books/proceedings volumes and has one forthcoming, including Seeing the Light: Optics in nature, photography, color, vision and holography (Wiley), Computer image analysis in the study of art (SPIE), Pattern Classification (2nd ed., Wiley), and HAL’s Legacy: 2001’s computer as dream and reality (MIT).

Date: Tuesday 17th September 2013 5:15 - 6:45 pm

Venue: Babel Building, 106 (Middle Theatrette), University of Melbourne, Parkville Hosted by the Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation

For further information: Apryl Morden, amorden@student.unimelb.edu.au