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Gerald Handerson Thayer
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The American painter and ornithologist
Gerald Handerson Thayer (see portrait photograph above) remains a mystery.
Over the years, I've written quite a lot about his collaborative work with his father, Abbott Handerson Thayer,
who is sometimes also known as "the father of camouflage." The father
blinds us to the son. Below are portions from a news article, reporting
on a public talk that Gerald presented in Rochester NY two years before
his father died. He is a great unknown. At some point he needs to be
written about.
•••
CAMOUFLAGE AND
PROTECTIVE COLORATION: Man Who Shares with Father Credit for Discovery,
Gives Interesting Lecture at Memorial Gallery in The Post Express (Rochester NY), March 17, 1919—
A lecture on “Camouflage and Protective Coloration” was delivered yesterday afternoon by Gerald H[anderson] Thayer at the Memorial Art Gallery. Dr. [Benjamin] Rush Rhees
introduced the speaker as “the illustrious son of an illustrious
father, to both of whom belongs the credit for the discovery of the
principles of camouflage and protective coloration.”
Excerpts from Thayer’s [slide illustrated] presentation are as follows—
Just how much of the camouflage used in the war is the result of the work of my father, Abbott [Handerson] Thayer,
and myself is not certain. We did not have any influence on the dazzle
system eventually used at sea, which was planned to deceive the man at
the periscope, so much as on the early marine system or the method
employed on land.
•••
Our book published before the war [Concealing Coloration in the Animal Kingdom,
1909] was used in England, France and Germany. At first everything was
fantastically camouflaged, and not very effectively, but later the only
method used was to prop up on poles nets of cord or wire to which were
fastened bits of colored burlap. This was made in great quantities in
factories behind the lines, and at the front was used to cover guns,
earthworks, anything that was to be concealed from airplane cameras.
Sticks and dirt from the vincinity would then be thrown on top, and
whenever possible the result was tested by asking a friendly plane to
take a picture of it.
•••
Darwin’s father was the first to
notice that protective coloration was a wild animal trait. My father
and I found that there were certain well defined principles. The figure
of a pure white duck stands out conspiciously against a pure white
backgound. The shadows about the figure give it away. The same figure,
with a gray back but with a light underneath is invisible against a gray
background. The under parts must be lighter in color to offset the
shadow. That is the first principle, called “countershading.” It is very common in North America.
The second is “concealment.”
Strangely enough the gourgeous plumage of tropical birds is the best
example of this. They are hard to find in their brilliant surroundings.
The third principle is that of “disguise,”
when an animal pretends to be what it is not or not to be what it is.
The pattern of the coat is like the surroundings. A zebra, for instance,
is practically invisible standing against the sky in reeds or a clump
of bushes. The woodcock is another only it is like the ground on which
it builds its nest. Disguise is found all the way from butterflies to
skunks.
Many animals combine two of these principles in their coloration.
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
