The Role of Artists in Ship Camouflage during World War I

Authors

Roy R. Behrens, University of Northern IowaFollow

Document Type

Article

Keywords

Military camouflage, World wars, Ships, Submarines, Art photography, Navies, Design, Artists models, Merchant vessels, Colors

Journal/Book/Conference Title Title

Leonardo

Volume

32

Issue

1

First Page

53

Last Page

59

Abstract

Experiments in ship camouflage during World War I were necessitated by the inordinate success of German submarines (called "U-boats") in destroying Allied ships. Because it is impossible to make a ship invisible at sea, Norman Wilkinson, Everett L. Warner and other artists devised methods of course distortion in which high-contrast, unrelated shapes were painted on a ship's surface, thereby confusing the periscope view of the submarine gunner.

Department

Department of Art

Comments

First published in Leonardo, v.32 n. 1 (1999), pp. 53-59, published by the MIT Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/002409499553000.

Original Publication Date

1999

DOI of published version

10.1162/002409499553000

Repository

UNI ScholarWorks, Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa

Date Digital

2006

Copyright

©1999 The MIT Press

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

Behrens, Roy R., "The Role of Artists in Ship Camouflage during World War I" (1999). Faculty Publications. 3.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/art_facpub/3