Acamoufleur orcamouflage officer is a person who designed and implementedmilitary camouflage in one of theworld wars of the twentieth century. The term originally meant a person serving in aFirst World War French military camouflage unit.[1] In theSecond World War, the British camouflage officers of theMiddle East Command Camouflage Directorate, led by Geoffrey Barkas in the Western Desert, called themselvescamoufleurs, and edited a humorous newsletter calledThe 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 pioneeredcamouflage techniques. This list is restricted to such notable pioneers of military camouflage.
Surrealist artistRoland Penrose wrote that he andJulian 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'sSection 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. TheCubist painterAndré 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 asSolomon 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 andHugh Cott werezoologists, though Cott was also a skilled illustrator. Both men believed passionately that effectivedisruptive 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 oneRoyal 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]
| Name | Dates | Nationality | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barry Faulkner | 1881–1966 | American | Painter of murals; organized artists for training as camouflage specialists, leading to the founding of theAmerican Camouflage Corps in 1917.[9] |
| Louis Guingot | 1864–1948 | French | École de Nancy painter; invented modern military camouflage in 1914, which was initially rejected by the French Army.[10] |
| Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scévola | 1871–1950 | French | Symbolist pastel painter; leader of French Camouflage Department in First World War[11] |
| Jean-Louis Forain | 1852–1931 | French | Impressionist painter, member of de Scévola's team[12] |
| John Graham Kerr | 1869–1957 | Scottish | Embryologist, advocate of shipdazzle camouflage in First World War, influence on Hugh Cott (Second World War camoufleur)[13] |
| Paul Klee | 1879–1940 | German-Swiss | Painter using expressionism, cubism and surrealism. Camouflaged aircraft during the war.[14][15] |
| Loyd A. Jones | 1884–1954 | American | Leader of scientific research section of U.S. Navy camouflage unit in First World War[16][17] |
| Franz Marc | 1880–1916 | German | Expressionist painter, printmaker; pioneered pointillist canvas tarpaulin camouflage[18] |
| André Mare | 1885–1932 | French | Cubist painter, camouflaging artillery guns and observation trees[19] |
| Kimon Nicolaïdes | 1891–1938 | American | Art teacher, served in France with theAmerican Camouflage Corps[20] |
| Solomon Joseph Solomon | 1860–1927 | British | Academic painter, pioneer of camouflage netting[21] |
| Abbott Handerson Thayer | 1849–1921 | American | Painter, discoverer of countershading[22] |
| Leon Underwood | 1890–1975 | British | Avant-garde sculptor, colleague of Solomon, made 'tree' observation posts[7] |
| Edward Wadsworth | 1889–1949 | British | vorticist painter, designer of dazzle camouflage for ships[23] |
| Everett Warner | 1877–1963 | American | Impressionist painter, inventor of Warner System camouflage measure for ships[24] |
| Norman Wilkinson | 1878–1971 | British | Marine painter, pioneer of dazzle camouflage for the Royal Navy and the U.S. Navy[25] |
| Name | Dates | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Tony Ayrton | 1909–1943 | British painter, camouflage in Western Desert:Operation Bertram[26] died 1943.[27] |
| Geoffrey Barkas | 1896–1979 | British film maker, Director of Camouflage, Middle East Command[28] |
| Hugh Casson | 1910–1999 | British architect, worked on camouflage for Air Ministry 1939–1944[29] |
| John Codner | 1913–2008 | British painter, camouflage in Western Desert[30] |
| Edward Bainbridge Copnall | 1903–1973 | British sculptor, born in Cape Town; camouflage in Western Desert 1942[30] |
| Hugh Cott | 1900–1987 | British zoologist, author of textbookAdaptive Coloration in Animals, government Advisory Committee on Camouflage 1939–40, advisor to British Army during Battle of Britain, Chief Instructor atCamouflage Training and Development Centre, Middle East at Helwan, Egypt[31] |
| Frederick Gore | 1913–2009 | Britishfauvist painter, camouflage officer for southeast England preparing for D-Day landings[32] |
| Stanley William Hayter | 1901–1988 | Britishsurrealist painter, printmaker; with Roland Penrose set up camouflage training unit[33] |
| Ivan Konev | 1897–1973 | Russian general, responsible formaskirovka including army-scale camouflage and dummy units in theBattle of Kursk, achieving tactical surprise[34] |
| Jasper Maskelyne | 1902–1973 | British stage magician, camouflage in Western Desert 1942, exaggerating his role and effectiveness[35] |
| Oliver Messel | 1904–1978 | English stage designer, pioneer of pillbox (concrete strongpoint) camouflage[36] |
| Colin Moss | 1914-2005 | Britishsocial realism artist, camouflage officer at Civil Defence Camouflage Establishment (CDCE), Royal Leamington Spa, senior lecturer of figure drawing at the Ipswich Art School[37] |
| Roland Penrose | 1900–1984 | Englishsurrealist artist; teacher of camouflage, author ofHome Guard Manual of Camouflage[38] |
| Peter Proud | 1913–1989 | Scottish film art director, camouflage in Western Desert 1942 includingSiege of Tobruk and dummy port at Ras el Hillal; invented "Net Gun Pit";[39] the second-in-command, to Barkas, in Middle East camouflage |
| Fred Pusey | 1909–1983 | British film art director and production designer, camouflage in Western Desert 1942 including dummy railhead at Misheifa, dummy port at Ras el Hillal andOperation Crusader[40] |
| Brian Robb | 1913–1979 | English painter, illustrator,Punch cartoonist; camouflage in Western Desert,Operation Bertram 1942[41][42] |
| Johann Georg Otto Schick | 1882-? | German art professor, from 1935 director of the newly formed camouflage department (named "T" for "Tarnung", camouflage) where he designeda series of disruptive patterns for camouflage clothing includingPlatanenmuster (plane tree) anderbsenmuster (pea dot) for theWaffen-SS.[43][44] |
| Peter Scott | 1909–1989 | British ornithologist, conservationist and painter of wildfowl, and naval officer exploringship camouflage[45] |
| Edward Seago | 1910–1974 | EnglishPost-Impressionist painter, camouflage advisor to Field Marshal Auchinleck;[46] invalided 1944 |
| Alan Sorrell | 1904–1974 | Englishneo-romanticist painter and illustrator; camouflaged Royal Air Force aerodromes[47] |
| Basil Spence | 1907–1976 | Scottish architect (Art Deco style 1933); officer in British Army's Camouflage Training and Development Centre (CDTC) at Farnham[48][49] |
| Steven Sykes | 1914–1999 | Britishstained glass designer, ceramist and painter; first Grade 2 Camouflage Staff Officer in British army; created dummy railhead at Misheifa, Egypt in 1941, dummy port at Ras al Hilal, Cyrenaica in 1942.[50][51][52] |
| Ernest Townsend | 1880–1944 | British portrait painter; camouflaged roofs ofRolls-Royce aircraft engine factories in Derby as houses[53] |
| Julian Trevelyan | 1910–1988 | British printmaker and teacher; pioneer of desert camouflage and deception[54] |
| Name | Dates | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Timothy O'Neill | – | American designer ofdigital camouflage patternMARPAT.[55] |
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