Eric Sloane | Camouflage and Comic Books

Eric Sloane (1942), Camouflage Simplified

We've talked about American artist Eric Sloane (1905-1985) in an earlier blog, specifically in reference to a 60-page Illustrated guidebook called Camouflage Simplified, published in 1942. It's easily our all-time favorite comic-style overview of the subject. It's a delight just to look at the drawings, such as the examples above and below. It turns out that, according to the Hathi Trust Digital Library, the book is now in public domain, and is available in full online. Take a look at it; it's a pleasurable way to spend some time.

Eric Sloane (1942), Camouflage Simplified

Camouflage Artist | Eric Sloane

Cover of Eric Sloane, Camouflage Simplified (New York: Devin Adair, 1942).

Eric Sloane (1905-1985) was a widely-known American artist and author, who wrote and illustrated (with exquisite pen-and-ink drawings) a 60-page overview of the principles of camouflage, titled Camouflage Simplified (New York: Devin Adair, 1942). It's a challenge to locate a copy to buy (the lowest price I found online a few minutes ago was $300), but it should be available through interlibrary loan, since, according to WorldCat, about 90 US libraries have it in their collections. Here's more about Sloane from a biographical article in Camoupedia: A Compendium of Research on Art, Architecture and Camouflage (p. 362)—

[Sloane's] name at birth was Everard Jean Hinrichs. In 1919, his family moved to Long Island, where he became friends with his neighbor, the typographer Frederic Goudy, who taught him hand-lettering. He then studied briefly at the Art Students League (where he was influenced by John Sloan, whose name he would adopt c.1934, while adding an e at the end), and at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art, where he was enrolled as a “graphic advertising major.” Due to poor attendance and failure to submit his work, he never completed his courses, yet he decided soon after to enroll at Yale University, where he lasted only several months. In the 1930s, through his interest in flying, he became friends with aviator Wiley Post, in the process of which he decided to paint “cloudscapes.” He studied meteorology at MIT, and later, during World War II, served with the Army Air Force as an instructional interpreter of complex flight-related terms. 

Eric Sloane / how to conceal a small factory in WWII

Above Eric Sloane, illustration of camouflage techniques for a small factory, from his book, Camouflage Simplified. New York: Devin-Adair, 1942.

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Anon, Western Mail (Perth, Western Australia) May 13, 1943, p, 22—

An architect friend of ours who always considered himself a very respectable member of society is now beginning to have his doubts. Trying to do his part, he signed up for a night school course in industrial camouflage. He began to worry when he read the catalog listing lecture subjects: Concealment, Deception, Confusion, Disruption and Distortion.

He's wondering whether his code of ethics will ever be the same.

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 / 

FALSE COLORS: Art, Design and Modern Camouflage

CAMOUPEDIA: A Compendium of Research

on Art, Architecture and Camouflage

SHIP SHAPE: A Dazzle Camouflage Sourcebook

highest-paid camouflage expert in England in WWII

Eric Sloane, factory camouflage diagram

PLENTY OF DIZZY PAINTING WHEN CAMOUFLAGERS WORK in Saskatoon Star-Phoenix (Canada), December 23, 1940—

…All through the United Kingdom factories engaged in war work are gradually disappearing from view. More and more they are being heavily camouflaged so they may not be recognized by a person standing on the ground 500 yards away. Landmarks by which they might be readily identified have been given new faces.

In some places entire false avenues have been constructed to change the contours of manufacturing centers. The big foundry, say, with its rambling workshops marking the outskirts of the town, now may be nestled amid rows of framework houses. Or its walls may be hidden from view by weird painted patterns, many of them designed by Lonsdale Hands, who has become Britain’s highest-paid camouflage expert.…

It was only after the war started that Hands became interested in camouflage work. Prior to that he had spent much of his time designing newspaper advertisements for various employers in Fleet Street. One day he got married during his lunch hour, quit his job when refused an increase in pay and suddenly found himself preparing camouflage for one of the largest munition factories in the country.

Since then, his tasks have been increasing, especially since a special committee found many factories were not properly camouflaged and that full use of camouflage was not being taken advantage of by some big plants. Hands and his “Design Unit” have been called on to provide remedies.

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Richard Lonsdale-Hands (also cited as Frederick Richard de Prilleux Lonsdale-Hands) (1913-1969) is usually described as an industrial and package designer, advertising executive, and artist. He was the founder in 1937 of Richard Lonsdale-Hands Associates, which in time became one of the largest industrial and marketing firms in Europe. In a review of his paintings in 2011 in the New York Times, he was described as “an impassioned amateur painter” whose work was dismissed as a “shoo-in” for “bad painting.” The 12-page catalog for that exhibition is The Paintings of Richard Lonsdale-Hands (NY: Hirschi and Adler, 2011). 

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