The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1917-08-01
THE NEW ART IN WAR.

IKE actors, armies now make up as Tor a play. IheiT
- keenly alert audience is the enemy famous artists
are the makeup and property men; the drama is a tragedy
OF surprise, with fright, horror and death gripping the
scene Artillery is decorated and painted to resemble the
surroundings; illusion is practiccd by artists to prevent the
enemy obtaining information Of troops or barracks, Art
has stepped in and created something new in war, 1t is
designated as CAMOUFLAGE,
Our own dictionary does not give a definition of the
word But that's immatefial American artists are enlist
ing for the special purpose of aiding our allies on battle
fields. not with firearms nor proJcctleS, but with a paint
brush.
While Oklahoma has not developed many artists, as
compared to the older communities, perhaps young men
from this state will soon be found in Europe aiding the
forces OF democracy with the brush instead of the rifle.
America is for this new, highly developed trick of war,
brush. tube, palette and all Two hundred Of the foremost
artists OF New York and other cities have already re-
Spondcd to the call, and when our cannon roll out toward
tire front they will look, from above, like the grassy ground
and our hangers and our camps and our depots for mum
tons and supplies will be peaceful bits OF meadowland or
forest, a, viewed from the German acroS circling the blue
a t|arIauln covering a pile OF big shells lying in a road
way viii have the dust of the road and the green OF its
edges reproduced upon it. Our army is for the camou-
iIagc FIRST, last and all the timcl
Abbot II Thayef, the well known academician, was the
first individual eve, to take up the art Of concealmcnt,
when he began the study Of the protective coIoring OF ami
rrals twenty five years ago. He noted that such beasts
a. the zebra and okapi were merged in the landscape at a
few yard, distance; and he evolved the principle that the
breaking OF outline was the destruction Of visibility
Little was thought Of camouilagc at the onset Of the
present big conflict. There were the officers white kid
gloycs-iatal targets for German snipcrs-and waving
pIunes the FURNISHED cuirass and the pennoned lance,
Then the two contending lines dug themselves in and locked
horns. Concealmcnt became all mportant-concealmcnt
from the aero with the eagle eye from the artillery OBJ
seryatIon station, blnocuIar-eycd from the practiccd glance
Of the sharpshootcr and the keen vision Of the patrols.
Artists in the ranks busted themselves; a new branch Of
the art military was born-camouilage.
Today it is highly developed. There are two branches,
%inylsiblIty and imitation A supply train may look like a
row Of cottages that is imitation. A screen tops a great
gun so that the green OF the screen blends with the grass
art Of making compelling replicas Of camps,
guns, piles OF supplies, trenches, ammunition depots and
the like, which are not bona fide at all, but the aero man
thinks they are, and wastes his bombs and energy attack
ing nothing worth while.
Some great ieatS OF camouilage have been pulled off
in the past few months by the clever French poilu- camou-
ileurs, AT ono time the German positions commanded a
track far into the distance behind the French
lines. That whole track, signals, rails and ties, and the
that fenced in the line and the hills on the horizon,
were all painted on a wide screen and set up in the night
across a village street which was needed. The enemy
never found out the trick.
There will be a lot more achieved in France when the
camouilcurs get busy. American soldiers are to
win the war with the assistance of artists.