Art, Culture and Camouflage

Art, Culture and Camouflage  
In 1896 the American artist Abbott H Thayer (1849-1921) published an article entitled "The Law Which Underlies Protective Coloration", in which he explored how animals protected themselves by the use of graduated colours and tones on their feathers, scales or fur, allowing them to be camouflaged by their surroundings. Using a language that mixed art and optics, he said "the spectator seems to see right through the space really occupied by an opaque animal". While Thayer was not the first to observe how animals used this defensive colouration, he believed nature was acting as an artist, using colour and light for optical effect, and thought that this study "belongs to the realm of pictorial art and can be only interpreted by painters".

Also Check out the AIGA's The Art of Camo