In 1917, when the US entered World War I, it was decided that artists, architects,
set designers, and others would be recruited as camouflage practitioners. As a result, various civilian US schools began to offer courses in
camouflage design. In this government photograph from 1918, a camouflage instructor at Columbia University is shown at work on a demonstration of
“high difference” or “disruptive” ship camouflage, also known as “dazzle.” The same policy was continued during WWII.
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Donald Oenslager,
The Theatre of Donald Oenslager. Middleton CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1978, p. 12—
Then came those barren years of World War II. My abrupt transfer from my private world of stage design to the defensive world of camouflage was dramatic. I discovered that the temporary characteristics of stage design and camouflage are synonymous. With the same tricks one conceals what exists and by the corollary reveals what does not exist.
