Krazy Kat, Worden Wood, and WWI Ship Camouflage

George Herriman (1904)

Of late I have been reading a book about the American cartoonist and comic artist George Herriman, best known as the author / illustrator of Krazy Kat. I recently received the book as a gift from a friend, former student and colleague, Wisconsin artist Craig Ede. The book, which was written by Michael Tisserand, is Krazy: George Herriman: A Life in Black and White (HarperCollins, 2016). It is wonderfully detailed and well-researched.

One of its illustrations is reproduced above. It’s a Herriman cartoon that appeared in the New York American on May 3, 1904. It’s an early example of a kind of visual stop-motion effect, which calls up memories of the photographic experiments of Étienne-Jules Marey and Eadweard Muybridge, as well as certain aspects of Italian Futurism, subjects that I’ve blogged about before.

I was surprised to learn about Herriman’s link to Arizona and the Navajo, and about his friendship with John and Louisa Wetherill, who were prominent trading post owners. There is a possibility that, through them, he may have been acquainted with my relatives, the Newcombs, who owned various trading posts on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico.

Also, I was not far into the book when I ran across the name of Worden Wood, a fellow cartoonist and associate of Herriman. I have earlier blogged about Wood, because he served as a ship camouflage designer during World War I. Earlier, he had been in the Naval Reserve during the Spanish-American War, and, following that, had participated in General John J. Pershing’s pursuit of Pancho Villa. He rejoined the Naval Reserve in 1917 and soon after was assigned to ship camouflage.

A search of vintage newspapers reveals that Wood was injured in a car accident in August 1916, when he ”undertook to dispute the right of way with a six cylinder car.” Later that month, while serving near El Paso, he rode his horse Cleopatra to town to buy a jar of raspberry jam. But the horse stumbled in the dark, and the jam jar shattered, leaving stains of red preserves on Wood’s uniform and hands. As a practical joke, when Wood arrived in camp that night, he acted as if he were wounded. The medic was called, and it was soon discovered that the blood was jam. 

Two months earlier, he had prevented a dog from being severely beaten by its owner, when he grabbed the owner’s cane and broke it into pieces. No doubt, his life was eventful.

exhibition of hypothetical ship camouflage patterns

hypothetical camouflage schemes

Opening soon on May 24, 2022 (in the coming week) is a major gallery exhibition at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, which continues through June 24. Titled EVOLVING GRAPHIC DESIGN, it showcases the work of twenty-three graphic design professionals and design educators from throughout the nation. Represented is the widest variety of graphic media, including themes, research and techniques that extend beyond traditional prints on paper.

The exhibit’s originator, organizer and curator is Yeohyun Ahn, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design and Interactive Media, in the Graphic Design Program, UW-Madison Department of Art. Detailed information about the exhibition is online here.

I am pleased that my work is included in two components of the exhibition. In one will be exhibited a series of ten large-scale digital montages, called the Iowa Insect Series, that I made in 2012-2013 in collaboration with design colleague and friend David M. Versluis. Having retired from teaching recently, he now resides in Michigan. But at the time, he was a Professor of Art and Design at Dordt College in Iowa, while I was then on the faculty at the University of Northern Iowa. 



These works began with David’s high definition digital scans of various insect specimens from his collection. We worked together by what might be referred to as “blind collaboration.” To begin, he would email me one of the insect image scans. I then did something to alter or augment that image (somewhat like a move in chess), and returned the result by email to him. He then made additional alterations, and sent that second result to me. We continued blindly, back and forth, exchanging subsequent alterations, until we both began to sense that the work was nearing completion. We did this on ten occasions. All ten will be exhibited in the UW-Madison exhibition. No doubt the effect will be stunning.



In another area of the exhibition, I will also be exhibiting thirteen design-related images that are part of my long-term, continuing research (as a design historian) of World War I Allied naval camouflage. The theme uniting these artifacts is high difference or disruptive ship camouflage, which was referred to at the time as dazzle painting or dazzle camouflage. 

 Among the items exhibited are restored government photographs from the time period, full-color reproductions of diagrams of the camouflage patterns, and my own recent hypothetical camouflage schemes, derived from historical works of art.

 See examples, reproduced above.

A highlight of the exhibition will be a symposium, titled Evolving Graphic Design, to be held on June 23 and 24, in the Art Loft Conference Room, Art Lofts Building, in the Department of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison at 111 North Frances Street, in Madison. I will participate in that symposium, by online presentation.