DAZZLE CAMOUFLAGE

When you hear the word "dazzle," the first thing that comes to mind is definitely not World War I warships, but oddly, that was a common term in military camouflage of the war era. Dazzle camouflage was not sequence and boas, but instead an op art style of painting used on warships throughout World War I and World War II.The idea behind painting the ships in optical illusion and abstract designs was to confuse the enemy, instead of trying to conceal the ship altogether. Dazzle camouflage, in the case of warships, was used to make it difficult for the enemy to determine speed and size of oncoming vessels. US Navy and British Admiralty ships were painted in shapes, colors, patterns, and intersecting designs that create illusions that would hopefully mislead enemies. It's success was sort of a flop, but a progressive idea that mixed the unlikely pair of abstract art and war.Now you may be saying, wait, isn't dazzle just op-art, and you are correct, but the op art movement came a good 50 years later. There is some debate about where the op art style comes from, whether it is from the constructivists at Bauhaus, or from the cubist work as Picasso claims. Regardless of its origins, the op art movement of the 60's was a reincarnation and expansion of the dazzle camouflage style. It is interesting to see how forms of art can be recycled and a movement 50 years later can get credit for a style. We've all heard the phrase "the art of war" but with dazzle/op-art, the ships were literal art of war.Image Sources:US Naval Historical and Heritage Command, NH 1733; thesciencebookstore.com; http://designenvy.aiga.org/99-invisible-roman-mars/; Wikimedia Commons