Letter to the New York Times in response to John Noble Wilford’s article

To the Editor:

"Abstraction in a Celestial Palette, Courtesy of Robots and Outer Space" (Arts pages, Oct. 22), in a discussion of interplanetary photography, asks, "Is it art?"

Pictures like the gorgeous shot of Jupiter that accompanied the article are indeed art, because humans arranged for these shootings, chose the most interesting and beautiful pictures, adjusted the color balances and probably cropped the pictures for best effect.

The artist's eye is what counts, not the machine.

When Picasso chose found objects and mounted them as sculptures, almost unchanged, the result was art, and the same principle applies here.

Some people tend to consider photographs as factual, objective pictures; this view leaves out the human, subjective, artistic processing of the raw material.

Gerald M. Levitis
Mahopac, N.Y. Oct 22, 2003