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List of camoufleurs

Cover of The Fortnightly Fluer magazine for Second World War camoufleurs.
The Fortnightly Fluer, the magazine for "Camou-Fluers" of Middle East Command, April 1942. Illustration by Brian Robb.

A camoufleur or camouflage officer is a person who designed and implemented military camouflage in one of the world wars of the twentieth century. The term originally meant a person serving in a First World War French military camouflage unit.[1] In the Second World War, the British camouflage officers of the Middle East Command Camouflage Directorate, led by Geoffrey Barkas in the Western Desert, called themselves camoufleurs, and edited a humorous newsletter called The Fortnightly Fluer.[2][3] Such men were often professional artists. The term is used by extension for all First and Second World War camouflage specialists. Some of these pioneered camouflage techniques. This list is restricted to such notable pioneers of military camouflage.

André Mare's ink and watercolour sketch Le canon de 280 camouflé (The Camouflaged 280 Gun), c.1917, shows a Cubist artist's work for the French army in the First World War.

Surrealist artist Roland Penrose wrote that he and Julian Trevelyan were both "wondering how either of us could be of any use in an occupation so completely foreign to us both as fighting a war, we decided that perhaps our knowledge of painting should find some application in camouflage."[4] Trevelyan later admitted that their early efforts were amateurish.[5] Working in camouflage was not a guarantee of a safe passage through the war. Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scévola's Section de Camouflage, founded in September 1914 in the French army, developed many new techniques, some of them highly dangerous, such as putting up artificial, camouflaged trees at night to replace actual trees with cramped observation posts. The Cubist painter André Mare was wounded while preparing one such observation tree. Fifteen of his camoufleur colleagues were killed during the First World War.[6]

Some camoufleurs such as Solomon J. Solomon, aged 54 at the start of the First World War, believed that artistic skill was necessary for the design or construction of effective camouflage. He wrote that "the camoufleur is, of course, an artist, preferably one who paints or sculpts imaginative subjects. . . He must leave no clues for the detective on the other side in what he designs or executes, and he must above all things be resourceful. But his imagination and inventiveness should have free play".[7]

Not all the camoufleurs were artists. John Graham Kerr and Hugh Cott were zoologists, though Cott was also a skilled illustrator. Both men believed passionately that effective disruptive camouflage was vital, especially in the face of aerial observation, but they had difficulty persuading authorities such as the British Air Ministry that their approach was the right one. At least one Royal Air Force officer felt that Cott's camouflage was highly effective, but, since it would demand the presence of a skilled artist for every installation, too costly to be practical.[8]

First World War

Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scévola
Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scévola, leader of the pioneering French First World War camouflage unit.

Second World War

Geoffrey Barkas, British Army's Director of Camouflage, Middle East during Second World War.

Post-war

References

  1. ^ Newark 2007, p. 56.
  2. ^ Forsyth 2012, pp. 250–251.
  3. ^ Sykes 1990, pp. 78–79.
  4. ^ Forbes 2009, pp. 137–138.
  5. ^ Forbes 2009, pp. 143–144.
  6. ^ Newark 2007, pp. 54–56.
  7. ^ a b Newark 2007, p. 60.
  8. ^ Forbes 2009, pp. 140, 145.
  9. ^ "The War of Deception: Artists and Camouflage in World War I: Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park". National Park Service. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  10. ^ Louis Guingot: Camouflage jacket, note from the Lorraine Museum, Palais des Ducs de Lorraine, France [1]
  11. ^ Forbes 2009, p. 104.
  12. ^ Behrens, Roy False Colors: Art, Design and Modern Camouflage. Dysart, 2002.
  13. ^ Forbes 2009, pp. 84–88.
  14. ^ Partsch 2007, p. 35.
  15. ^ "Paul Klee". ArtHistory.net. 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  16. ^ Van Buskirk, H. "Camouflage". Transactions of the Illuminating Engineering Society, Vol 14, 21 July 1919, pp 225–229.
  17. ^ Warner, Everett L. "Fooling the Iron Fish: The Inside Story of Marine Camouflage". Everybody’s Magazine, November 1919, pp 102–109.
  18. ^ Newark 2007, p. 68.
  19. ^ Forbes 2009, p. 105.
  20. ^ "Kimon Nicolaides". www.hmhbooks.com. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  21. ^ Forbes 2009, pp. 106–109.
  22. ^ Forbes 2009, pp. 102–103.
  23. ^ "Vorticism". Edward Wadsworth. Vorticism.co.uk. Archived from the original on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  24. ^ Behrens, Roy R. (2009). "CAMOUPEDIA". Everett Warner. Bobolink Books. Archived from the original on 2008-05-16. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  25. ^ Forbes 2009, pp. 90–100.
  26. ^ Stroud 2012, pp. 192–197.
  27. ^ "Search Results: CWGC". Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  28. ^ "De Gruchy family sought by family of war hero". This is Jersey. Jersey Evening Post. 19 March 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
  29. ^ Esher, Lionel (17 August 1999). "Obituaries: Sir Hugh Casson: The first architect since Lutyens to become President of the Royal Academy, Casson emerged triumphant". The Independent. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  30. ^ a b Barkas, 1952. p 141.
  31. ^ Forbes 2009, pp. 139–157..
  32. ^ Foss, Brian. War paint: art, war, state and identity in Britain, 1939–1945, Yale University Press, 2007. p 16.
  33. ^ Roosevelt, Michael A. "Stanley William Hayter & Atelier 17". Atelier Contrepoint.
  34. ^ Glantz 1989, pp. 153–154.
  35. ^ Forbes 2009, pp. 158–159.
  36. ^ Hamilton, James; Robinson, William Heath. William Heath Robinson. Pavilion, 1995.
  37. ^ Frances Spalding (1990). 20th Century Painters and Sculptors. Antique Collectors' Club. ISBN 1-85149-106-6.
  38. ^ Forbes 2009, pp. 138, 143, 151–152.
  39. ^ Stroud 2012, pp. 91–98, 100–108, 121–128, 137–143, 152–154.
  40. ^ Barkas & Barkas 1952, pp. 159–161.
  41. ^ Rankin 2008, pp. 365–366.
  42. ^ Crowdy 2008, pp. 178–181.
  43. ^ Peterson 2001, p. 64.
  44. ^ "Schick, Johann Georg Otto (1882-)". Kalliope-Verbund. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  45. ^ Forbes 2009, pp. 172–173.
  46. ^ "The Papers of Edward Brian Seago". GBR/0014/ESEA. Janus (database). Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  47. ^ Sorrell, Mark. "Sorrell, Alan". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/52629. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  48. ^ "Edinburgh, Ravelston Dykes Road, Ravelston House, Garden". A set of oblique aerial photographs of Ravelston House garden with military vehicles, Edinburgh taken as a camouflage test. Sir Basil Spence Archive. Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. 14 March 1944. pp. Canmore ID 273364. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  49. ^ Goodden 2007.
  50. ^ Harrod, Tanya (24 February 1999). "Obituaries: Steven Sykes". The Independent.
  51. ^ Stroud 2012, pp. 121–128, 138–143.
  52. ^ Forbes 2009, pp. 155, 161–163.
  53. ^ Allard, Sarah; Rippon, Nicola (2003). Goodey's Derby: Paintings and drawings in the collection of Derby Museum and Art Gallery. Breedon Books.
  54. ^ Forbes 2009, pp. 137–162.
  55. ^ Fusco, Vincent (3 June 2010). "West Point explores science of camouflage". U. S. Army. Retrieved 24 August 2017.

Bibliography