Thomas Casilear Cole / WWI ship camouflage artist

Thomas Casilear Cole

In the mid-19th century, there was a prominent trend in painting called the Hudson River School, which consisted of a cluster of landscape artists whose work was typically focused on the Hudson River Valley. The style’s founding artist was Thomas Cole (1801-1848), while another prominent member was John William Casilear (1811-1893).

Near the close of the century, when Thomas Casilear Cole (1888-1976) was born in Staatsburg-on-Hudson, he was named in honor of those two well-known painters. He initially studied at Harvard University, but eventually turned to art, in the course of which he studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Boston, where among his teachers were Edmund Tarbell, Frank Benson, and Philip Hale. In 1912, he studied with Jean Paul Laurens at the Académie Julian in Paris. Over the course of his life, he was primarily known for his portraits.

Of particular interest for the moment is that Cole was a designer of ship camouflage during World War I. An article in the Art Digest (January 15, 1931, p. 13) states that he “served two years in the navy during the World War, designing many of the camouflage patterns that protected American ships.” A biographical entry in Who’s Who in New York (1924 ed.) claims that he was among the “original, and one of the principal designers of naval camouflage in that service.” Elsewhere, he is cited as having been a student at William Andrew Mackay’s camouflage school that had been established in Manhattan during World War I.

In contrast to the prestige of the name(s) with which he was christened, his work has a lack of distinction. So it may not be surprising how little is said of him (two brief sentences) in the Benezit Dictionary of Artists, with no mention of camouflage.