Disruptive Pattern Material: An Encyclopedia of Camouflage

by Hardy Blechman
Firefly Books, Buffalo, 2004
720 pp., illus. 5000 col. Trade, $125.00.
ISBN: 1-55407-011-2

Reviewed by Stefaan Van Ryssen

Hogeschool Gent

stefaan.vanryssen@pandora.be

Camouflage comes out of hiding. With more than 3000 images of camouflage patterns and applications, colours and fabrics, artwork and gadgets, this book certainly brings it out in the open. After this book I cannot imagine there is anything left to tell about the subject, except maybe for the physics of stealth airplanes and the most recent camouflaging technologies that are developed in the age of night vision and ultra high tech intelligence. But the book is certainly no homage to the cleverness of military tactician. Quite on the contrary. Dedicated to "all those who have established and are maintaining the right to refuse to kill", it is practically an anti-militaristic book. And the fact that the author became interested in camouflage materials through her work as a fashion designer adds to this: "I saw that not everyone was using it as a way to ape soldiers. It seemed there were other reasons, the most salient being that the combination of colours (and the shapes, to an extent) used in camouflage patterns taps into every human’s subconscious love of nature. […] I hope that DPM encourages the further widespread use and production of camouflage patterns by civilians, as an expression of a desire for peace, not war." (p. 21)

DPM is organised thematically rather than alphabetically. The opening section deals with camouflage in nature. Next comes an historical overview of the military usage of camouflage and its different variants. The largest part by far covers its many ‘cultural’ uses in art, architecture, fashion, sports, music and media, toys and accessories. Do not expect too much descriptive and analytical text though. Most of the content is anecdotal and illustrative.

One of the most surprising and amusing, if not entirely innocent episodes in the history of camouflage was the use of ‘dazzle painting’ in the First World War. In an attempt to confuse German U-Boot gunners, British and American ships were painted in vividly coloured patterns. Because stern and bow became practically undistinguishable and some parts of the ship almost blended in with the background, the gunner would not be able to determine the speed and course of the targeted ship. (A torpedo has to be directed in front of the ship to make up for its movement during flight time).

More recently, different camouflage schemes have been developed for microwave and radio antennae. Because they are variously disguised as cacti, palm trees, bell towers, minarets and even wind mills, one might wonder if in the long run some species of tree might not evolve to mimic antennae to avoid being chopped up by project developers.

A further illustration of how widely DPM has infiltrated in our daily environment are the surprising camouflage versions of Barbie, one as a soldier and one as a more romantic carrier of ‘secret messages’. Even the 1988 ‘world’s most glamorous teenager’, miss Brooke Shields, inspired a camouflage outfit and the world’s ‘most glamorous contemporary painter’ Andy Warhol did a camouflage portrait of Joseph Beuys. And yes, there is an explanation of the history of the word ‘camouflage’ in this book as well although it is hard to discover beneath the wealth of illustrations.