Camouflage - WW1

After researching into the Camouflage exhibition, I have become very fascinated by camouflage how it has affected and served a purpose during the war but I’m also interested in how it has been developed from using the pattern in military uniforms to becoming a popular cultural icon for art and fashion throughout the decades.

Whenever I think of camouflage in the war, I always see it as having bright and garish colours and it made me think, surely it made them easier to spot? I always thought it would be better for the soldiers if they wore something that blended in with the background. I thought that they would have a better chance of creeping up behind the enemy to surprise them. But during my research I realized that these colours were actually being designed to make the soldiers stand out. This means that the enemy would be intimidated rather than hiding from them. However this tactic became redundant. Following this tactic, the army changed the overall look and went for a more drab and dull make for the uniforms but they also considered looking into ways of concealing equipment and installations to deceive the enemy.

Looking back at the research into camouflage, I can’t believe that the first camouflage uniform appeared less than 80 years ago. But now you can people walking down the street and they will be wearing a prime example for it but they will be wearing it because it’s fashionable now, not because they are in the military.

The very first prime example of camouflage was coming from the French army in 1915. In those times, artists would be undertaking this project by most of these artists would be using there well known established techniques which range from cubism, which will allow the artist to paint disruptive patterns. The British Army learned of what the French were creating and this prompted the British to develop teams i.e. Artists, which included the well-known Vorticist Edward Wadsworth who painted the ships. 

The purpose was to make that the German U-boat captains would find it harder to determine their speed and course. These patterns were known as ‘Dazzle’, but the downside was that it didn’t really hide the ships as such, but the upside is that it made it harder to target. But now historians believe that this expanding and revolutionary effectiveness was now more about lifting the confidence and morale of the soldiers and even the public, rather than actually deceiving the enemy. This ‘Dazzle’ pattern was being found it later designs through this new and evolving popular consciousness. This pattern was also being reflected in the geometry art deco phase and the jazz age as well.