Edited by Roy R. Behrens (2012). 9 x 6 in. 376 pp. Illustrated (275 b&w illus). Softbound. Signed first edition. Includes twenty-six illustrated essays, and a 40-page camouflage bibliography (the largest ever compiled). ISBN 978-0-9713244-7-3. List price $30.00. Click below to see ordering options, discount price and shipping costs. SHIP SHAPE: A Dazzle Camouflage Sourcebook an anthology of writings about ship camouflage during WWI
THIS IS an anthology of twenty-six all but unknown writings about World War I ship camouflage, published during and after the war. They were written by various authors, including the camouflage artists themselves. These are supplemented by brief eyewitness comments from the same era, and rare historic ship photographs, diagrams and news clippings. An unprecedented research collection, the book concludes with a 40-page camouflage bibliography, the largest ever compiled on that subject (not just ship camouflage). Most of the articles are about "high difference" or "disruptive" camouflage, a counter-intuitive method in which ships were painted in brightly colored abstract shapes, which made them conspicuous but difficult to aim at. This practice captured the imagination of the public. It became known by such names as "dazzle camouflage," "baffle painting," "jazz painting" and "parti-coloring." In publications at the time, it was frequently compared to Modern-era styles of art, including cubism, futurism, vorticism and surrealism. Wartime news articles claimed that dazzle camouflaged ships looked like crazy-quilts, "sea-going Easter eggs," barber poles, painted Jezebels-and even, the delirium tremens. Did dazzle camouflage actually work? It is often assumed that it did not, because, if for no other reason, there is supposedly no scientific evidence from World War I to prove it was effective. But among the documents in this new book is an account of postwar "laboratory experiments" at MIT that appear to confirm that-not only did it work-it worked far better than anyone thought. Edited by the author of the highly acclaimed False Colors: Art, Design and Modern Camouflage (2002); and Camoupedia: A Compendium of Research on Art, Architecture and Camouflage (2009).FalseColors.htmlCamoupedia.htmlshapeimage_4_link_0shapeimage_4_link_1
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Click below to purchase online shipping now G.F. Norton (c1918)— “Captain Schmidt at the periscope. You need not fall and faint. For it’s not the vision of drug or dope, But only the dazzle paint.” James W. Evans (1921)— “The harbor looked like a Russian toy shop gone mad. All the ships were covered with bright screaming camouflage. Not a single color was omitted.” Isabel Anderson (1918)— “These designs are quite incomprehensible to the lay mind. One wonders if some cubist artist has gone entirely mad—and perhaps the whole world too.” The Midwest Book Review (2012)— “SHIP SHAPE is a fascinating study of an unusual but effective tactic and its impact on warfare.” Greg Allen at www.greg.org (2011)— “[Professor Behrens is an] esteemed camoölogist.” camouflage blog poetry of sight blog click here to download book info as a printable pdf