From October 13 through 15, 2010 and in cooperation with the International Council of
Museums (ICOM), the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and of Military History (RMM)
in Brussels will organise and host a symposium about camouflage: Camouflage takes centre
stage. Our programme promises some exciting presentations and debates.
In the course of
the last decennium of the 20th century several military and fashion museums started a
reflection about camouflage and these initiatives have translated into a series of exhibitions
and publications.
The theme is alive and contains numerous possibilities. Countless
scientists studied camouflage, as the technique goes over and beyond a specific time frame or
the frontiers between research fields. Camouflage and deception are as old as nature and
mankind itself. Plants, animals and humans have used it or still use it as a means of
reproduction or as a defensive strategy. The idea of camouflage is to become less visible.
Deception goes one step further, as it tries to represent things that don’t exist. The techniques
vary according to geographic location and testify to a society’s technical subtlety.
Hunters
of all ages and of all civilizations have adapted their appearance to the colours of their
hunting grounds. Examples abound: the Inuit hunters used white canvasses to cover their
boats during the seal hunt (19th century, Greenland). Closer to home, G. Buchanan explains
in his History of Scotland (1581) how the Highlanders wore autumnal colours in order to
melt into the landscape. On the other side of the Atlantic, the native Americans dressed up as
wolves for the buffalo hunt. The green or grey of the 18th and 19th century carabineers or
snipers were without any doubt inspired by the world of hunting.
More recently, the army
and the military recuperated camouflage techniques in order to dissimulate troops and
equipment, the aim being to make them less conspicuous and thus less
vulnerable.
Austrian visibility test in the 19th century gave rise to the feldgrau Jäger
uniforms, a colour apparently more efficient than the traditional green shades.
The same
ideas were applied by the Confederate troops during the Secession War in America. Colonial
troops in both Africa and India also quickly understood the value of suitable uniforms. No
more warm wool, but rather fresh cotton; no more tall and heavy shako’s, but rather practical
peaked caps or light-weight cork helmets; no more colourful uniforms with contrasting
piping, but rather green, brown or sand-coloured combat equipment.
In the 20th century,
new military strategies imposed camouflage combat gear. During the Great War special
camouflage units were created, with artists and scientists studying and developing
camouflage patterns.
The First World War installed military mystification. From that
moment onwards, the armies started imagining traps and dissimulation manoeuvres meant to
deceive the enemy. They created fake soldiers, observations platforms in fake trees, smokepots simulating field kitchens, rag dolls simulating para-troopers, kilometre-long screens
dissimulating troop movements or ghost armies with card-board vehicles meant to suggest
troop strength.
The “dazzle” motives on boats were an answer to the German submarines.
The aim was not only to camouflage the contours of the boats, but also to confuse the enemy
as to the course taken, the speed and the distance. Dazzle voiced Futuristic, Cubist and
Vorticist concerns: the visualization of moving objects (no more instantaneous snap shots, no
more fixed point of view). The English painter and navy officer Norman Wilkinson (18781971) was inspired by these artistic currents and used the dazzle motive as an optic
illusion.
The applied arts have created spectacular soft furnishings and couture fabrics in
trompe l’oeil based on the new formal and colour-related theories. We can for instance think
of the works by Sonia and Robert Delaunay, Balla, etc.
The permanent interaction
between both the military and the civil worlds is also to be found with Elsa Schiaparelli
(1890-1973), a designer working during the interwar period and who appealed to the
Surrealists. She even managed to present a couture collection based on silk and camouflage
just before the Second World War!
Today camouflage is generated by computers. During
the 20th century, one could still determine an army’s origin by its camouflage (both for
winter and summer dress, both for tropics or the desert), but the present-day the digital prints
seem to become universal. We are very proud to be able to welcome the “father” of digital
camouflage, who will present his latest invention in detail.
However, we don’t want to
limit ourselves to a general evolution or to the history of national military camouflage. We
also wish to welcome pop music and pop art specialists, as the adoption of camouflage
clothing by pop singers and artists elevated the technique to a whole new level. This
camouflage street-wear in turn influenced the world of couture: camouflage goes
classic!
Some twenty specialists, both from Europe and the States, will inform us about
the latest evolutions. Fashion specialists from New York or Paris will present some
unexpected analyses.
We wish to hear from experts in various fields and hope this
meeting will kindle exiting debates.
Need more information? Don't hesitate to contact
Ilse.bogaerts@klm-mra.be or camouflage@klm-mra.be
Be welcome!