Sunday, February 25, 2024

walking man camouflaged by the omission of clothes

Above John Walker Harrington, humorous incomplete drawing (n.d.)

•••

John Walker Harrington, HART, THE RELENTLESS SCRUTINIZER OF AMERICAN PORTRAITS. He Destroyed Some Illusions, but He Helped to Increase The Fame of Our Early Artists, in the New York Sun, 8 August 1918—

…As one who knew him [Charles Henry Hart], I am venturing to write these lines about him because nobody misunderstood him, and therefore, taken all in all, he was a most unpopular man. There is danger, owing to his decided personality, and also because in these days art has given way to dazzle and camouflage, that the great service which this man did for American art will be forgotten for a time.…

Saturday, February 17, 2024

hidden pidgin / the camouflage of messenger pigeons

I should think that there are few things more amazing than the variety of birds known as “homing pigeons” or “messenger pigeons.” They were widely used during both World Wars I and II to deliver messages from the field to various behind-the-lines command posts, which they had been trained to consider as “home.” They have been known to be able to return to home destinations as distant as 1000 miles. In addition to their battlefield role, they were also used as mail carriers (called “pigeon post”) by postal services, and by newspaper reporters to deliver stories from the field to the home office.

To send a message, the information would be recorded on a lightweight paper, which was then rolled up and secured within a tube-like capsule (along with a small pencil) attached to the pigeon’s leg [see photo below]. 

Shown above is a page from the January 1919 issue of The Popular Science Monthly, which features a grocery wagon that has been converted into a “home” for a “pigeon flying corps,” consisting of seventy-two messenger pigeons. 

At the bottom is a dog which apparently has been trained to carry a pigeon (in a special container attached to its back) to the dog’s “master,” a soldier somewhere in the field. That person could then remove the pigeon, write a note, and send it “home” to the landlord of the pigeon hotel. 

A wonderfully curious aspect of this is the coloration of the wagon. Looking closely at the large photograph, it becomes apparent that the wagon has been “camouflaged” with paint so as to continue the pattern of the rock wall and the foilage above and behind it. It was of course essential to prevent ones pigeons from being killed or wounded.

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Chapter One / Art, Design and Modern Camouflage

Chapter One of FALSE COLORS: Art, Design and Modern Camouflage (2002) can now be accessed online.