[In Boston, the photo caption reads] Something had to be done when styles kept dropping dresses lowers and lower in the back. And it fell to Adolf Boulnois to solve the problem. Boulnois, who had learned art, “as she really is,” in many world’s fashion centers, is now painting ships, or some such, in the middle of fair backs—or bare backs. It’s the latest American fad.
Another article, in the Chico Record (May 11, 1920), which uses the same photograph, reads as follows—
The fad of painting decorations on milady’s back, which came into vogue with the arrival of backless waists, is growing. This picture shows that. At first the more daring maids had tiny mice or little rosebuds or military insignia painted on their shoulders. Recently Miss Marjorie Barnes, of the "Listen Lester” company in New York, engaged Adolf Boulnois, said to be the originator of the fad, to paint a ship under full sail on her back. One of the newest low-cut gowns designed for Miss Barnes gives her an opportunity to display the painting.
The artist was Adolf Henrick Boulnois, from Winthrop MA, who had been born in Germany on September 17, 1889.
RELATED LINKS
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
