Roy Behrens

I have been a fan of Professor Roy Behrens and his blog Camoupedia since I first stumbled across it. He has been researching the links between camouflage and art for the last 45 years. Some of that work is highlighted in this recently released video which features interviews with him and with LTC Tim O’Neill who is considered the father of digital camo.

His studies on the dazzle camo first found on ships during World War One can be found in his book Ship Shape, a Dazzle Camouflage Sourcebook: An Anthology of Writings About Ship Camouflage During World War I.

Camouflage intrigues me. Thus, when I stumbled across Camoupedia, I was immediately interested.

The blog is the brainchild of Roy Behrens who is a Professor of Art at the University of Northern Iowa. Behren has published a number of books on camouflage including Camoupedia: A Compendium of Research on Art, Architecture and Camouflage and Ship Shape, a Dazzle Camouflage Sourcebook: An Anthology of Writings About Ship Camouflage During World War I.

While Behrens writes about all sorts of camouflage on his blog, he devotes considerable attention to dazzle or disruptive camouflage as used on ships during WWI and, to some extent, WWII. He pays particular attention to the role that artists played in developing camouflage schemes for the various navies and armies of the world. These artists include luminaries such as Grant Wood who briefly served in the US Army near the end of WWI as a camoufleur.

An example of a ship in dazzle camouflage can be seen below.

If you have an interest in camouflage that goes beyond whether Mossy Oak is superior to Realtree or vice-versa, this blog should be on your list of blogs to follow.