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| Book cover, 1917 (2012) |
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From DAZZLE PAINTING in the Sydney Morning Herald (September 2, 1919), p. 6—
Its [dazzle painting's] success was instantaneous; before long the personnel of the staff had been many times multiplied, depots established in every part of consequence, and the whole of the mercantile marine which plied in dangerous waters clothed in a Josephean coat of many colors. The object of dazzle painting was briefly to create illusion by applying certain principles of optics in the treatment of solid masses by painting our shadows, for instance, or by painting them in where they do not exist…[At war's end] While everyone rejoices in the removal of the occasion for dazzle painting, there are some who regret the latter's disappearance. It produced an effect resembling a crazy dream from Alice in Wonderland, but it gave a touch of variety and picturesqueness now lacking in shipping. To see a great liner in her camouflage was to be reminded of a very dignified and imposing lady reluctantly masquerading at a fancy ball in a fantastic futurist costume.
