Burnell Poole's paintings of WWI camouflaged ships

Portrait of Burnell Poole (unknown photographer)

In an issue dated March 28, 1920, an illustrated article appeared in the New York Tribune, titled "Burnell Poole—Painter of Ships." The subject of the article was an accomplished naval artist (sometimes known as Bert Poole), who had been born in Boston in 1884. The full text of the article is as follows—

From the time he was knee high to a grasshopper, Burnell Poole has made ships his hobby with a special passion for the gray sea fighters of Uncle Sam’s navy. To be a painter of ships has been his ambition to have his canvases technically correct, his ideal. Every now and then during the past several years he has managed through friends in Washington to arrange a trip with the Atlantic fleet. And these privileged occasions have been the joy of his life. Armed with speed camera, sketch pad and paint box he has put to sea as the navy's guest. And hundreds of wonderful photos, detailed sketches and unusual canvases were the result.

When we finally went to war, Poole foresaw the wonderful opportunity of studying the great steel seagoing monsters under actual fire. The rules of the navy were unbelievably strict against admitting anyone with a camera or a sketching pencil. It was only through his personal acquaintance with Secretary Daniels and the Navy Department's knowledge of his peculiar fitness for the work that the red tape was broken. He was permitted to go to sea not as an artist, but as a writer. Once the way was opened to him there was no form of martial maritime craft that escaped his attentive and technical eye. With notebook and pencil in hand he went through naval engagements on the high seas. The submarine, submarine chaser, a British mine-sweeping trawler, all these he saw in actual service. Even the air stations were not passed by.

Burnell Poole, RMS Mauritania (starboard view) 1919

 

The result of this unusual experience is a notebook as unique as it is interesting and valuable. For as far as is known, Burnell Poole was the only American artist who served in this capacity during the war. Especially prized is his precise and detailed record of all the various forms of the fascinating art of naval camouflage.

Burnell Poole, USS Leviathan (in background) escorted

His adventure over, Poole has settled down to the important task of transforming long columns of memoranda into colorful canvases. A task for a very conjurer! The deep blue green of the sea, the dark gray lines of the sky fantastically relieved by the brilliantly camouflaged dreadnaughts. But, however strongly tempted for the sake of an artistic effect, Poole never wavers from the mathematical accuracy with which each porthole, gun turret, smokestack and wireless apparatus is pictured. In this lies the historical value of his paintings. Mr. Poole's wide circle of admirers is looking forward to the little exhibition he's planning to have as soon as enough of his war canvases are ready for display.

Burnell Poole, RMS Mauretania (port side view) 1919

 

In April that year, a small exhibition of Poole’s watercolor paintings was featured in Boston in the print room at Goodspeed's Bookshop. As noted in an article called "Wayside Sketches" in the Boston Transcript (April 10, 1920), it is said that “perhaps nothing in the collection will interest the viewer more than three or four small drawings of camouflaged vessels.” These prints and drawings came about, the article notes, as a result of “his recent engagement with the United States Shipping Board as a marine camoufleur…”

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Dazzle Camouflage: What is it and how did it work? /  Nature, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Women's Rights, and Camouflage /  Embedded Figures, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Gestalt, and Camouflage /  Optical science meets visual art /  Disruption versus dazzle / Chicanery and conspicuousness /  Under the big top at Sims' circus