Nancy Burson

Artist

Nancy Burson (b. 1948) is an artist who pioneered the development of computer generated imagery in her photo-composites. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1948, she then attended Colorado Women’s College, Denver.

In the 1970s, Nancy Burson produced some of the earliest computer-generated portraits, and in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineers Richard Carling and David Kramlich, became a pioneer in the now-familiar territory of computer-manipulated imagery. Together they developed a significant computer program which gives the user the ability to age the human face and subsequently has assisted the FBI in locating missing persons. In Evolution II she combined the face of a man with that of a monkey to produce an imaginary portrait of a species (as well as a technology) in transition. This image was published in a series of manipulated portraits, reproduced in the book Composites (1986).

Burson's photographs and video work have been exhibited widely, and are in the collections of the International Museum of Photography; George Eastman House, Rochester, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among many other private and international public collections.

Nancy Burson lives and works in New York.

Nancy Burson (b. 1948) is an artist who pioneered the development of computer generated imagery in her photo-composites. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1948, she then attended Colorado Women’s College, Denver.

In the 1970s, Nancy Burson produced some of the earliest computer-generated portraits, and in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineers Richard Carling and David Kramlich, became a pioneer in the now-familiar territory of computer-manipulated imagery. Together they developed a significant computer program which gives the user the ability to age the human face and subsequently has assisted the FBI in locating missing persons. In Evolution II she combined the face of a man with that of a monkey to produce an imaginary portrait of a species (as well as a technology) in transition. This image was published in a series of manipulated portraits, reproduced in the book Composites (1986).

Burson's photographs and video work have been exhibited widely, and are in the collections of the International Museum of Photography; George Eastman House, Rochester, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among many other private and international public collections.

Nancy Burson lives and works in New York.

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