New-York tribune., 1921-06-05
Art and War
The Painters Contribution to
Victory

The Painters Contribution to
Victory
There is page in The Tribune of
August 13, 1916, filled with a remark
able contribution that Thayer made to
the defensive science of war. It deals
with the proper-and improper--1neth-
DDS of coloring warships. The subject
is, again, too complicated to be brought
within the confines of a brief ABSTRACT.
Even when the manuscript was fin
ished and was being put into type
Thayer would telegraph me changes.
His earnestness was surely in full play
that summer. He preached the gospel
of white paint to the British navy as
fervidly as though he were an evan
gelist For the reflection of his mood
that it gives l may reproduce another
of his letters:
"Mopadneck, N. H,
august 3, 1915.
Dear Cortissoz: am calm now about
squashing that horrible Hohenzollern
brood. AS one felt sure, it was certain
that since he left his neighbors no
alternative but practical apnihilation,
they would not and could not stop till
they had become an overwh Ginning cor
don to hunt him down. We shall see
the Germans put him in his box and
beg the world to let them exist as a
nation if they will do this boxing.
81 got clean used up and am now
Cape Cod. This unspeakable strain
took me to England last November and
December, and five weeks of the first
war year to Washington, to try to i'm
press Franklin Roosevelt and SO work
the Allies. Even you don't realize
that white ships would have saved most
of Britain's nine in that fight. All they
have to do is to wait for dark parts Of
the day to do their fighting in. Yes,
| have done perhaps my best head
lately. Affectionately, A. H. T."
The line at the close is pure Thayer.
The artist in him, repeat, could not
down. Half the criticism leveed
against his law would have been can
celed, to begin with, if his critics had
shared his aesthetic perceptions. After
all, the science of concealing coloration
is all intertwined with the beauty of
nature. 1t was an artistic as we'll as
a scientific principle that Thayer let
loose in the war when his law gave the
camoufleurs their start. He went
abroad himself, in 1915, as his note re-
lates, to give advice on the conceal
ment of arms and other objects in the
field. His cousin, Barry Faulkner,
led the artists who, in our own army,
brought the art of camouflage to
high pitch in France. In all the armies
| artists enrolled in this branch of the
service and wrought, as the whole
world now knows, immeasurable good
for their forces. The genesis of that
tremendous support given to the Allies
is directly traceable to the genius Of
| the American painter, who had loved
and studied animals from his child
hood, who had surprised the secret of
concealing coloration in the animal
kingdom, and had revealed "Thayer's
law" In writing to me about the
article | have mentioned he expressed
his anxiety about the title, in which
allusion was made to the possibility
that the Germans had learned from
his book how to avoid errors OF naval
coloration. 81 now believe they did
this" he added. 81 hear from Switzer-
land that I am worshiped there about
this matter" He might we'll have been
honored, if not worshiped, by the AL
lies, for he made a priceless gift to
their cause.
There was no soldier in the field
whose soul was stirred more nightly
than was Thayer's by the stress of the
war. 81 have only yesterday begun
again on the war news" he writes in
one of his letters, "after refraining
two months from knowing a word.
swore off for my health" He lived
by imagination, if ever man did.
Great events swept him like a storm.
And, fortunately, they sent him back to
the brush. 81 am young again and
really painting" "You will rejoice
that I have this last May done one
of my very best heads II am very
well again and conceive that the things
I am painting are going to please you
and me. I am full of them" These
are the messages from Thayer that
love best to recall. When he says, .I
am full of them" he. means only one
thing, that he is full of ideals of
beauty. He was faithful to them to
the end. In pure beauty this great
artist left to America his truest heri-
tage