Camouflage is celebrated at the Imperial War Museum in collaboration with DPM, incorporating the world’s largest ever dedicated camouflage and related popular culture with a major Camouflage film season.
As the largest and most comprehensive exhibition ever held on the subject, it brings the printed pages of DPM alive and explains how the development of aerial surveillance led to the need to camouflage guns, equipment and buildings; how artists sought to confuse U-boats by painting ships in ‘dazzle’ patterns; why camouflage uniforms were adopted world-wide in place of the colourful uniforms of the 19th century; and how over recent decades camouflage has entered into popular culture through art and design and in fashion where its original use has been subverted to make the wearer stand out rather than disappear.
The exhibition will also explain how in recent decades camouflage has infiltrated popular culture. It has been used as a uniform for anti-war protestors and also taken up by singers and musicians such as The Clash, Public Enemy and Madonna. Camouflage has continued to inspire artists and designers in the post-war period and works featured in the exhibition include Andy Warhol’s famous camouflage prints as well as art by Alain Jacquet and Boetti. Also on display will be street style by Maharishi and couture by John Galliano, Philip Treacy, Jean Paul Gaultier; urban camouflage designs by Adelle Lutz for David Byrne’s film True Stories; and a ballet costume created by Gerald Scarfe for the English National Ballet’s production of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker.
Click www.london.iwm.org.uk for more information. The exhibition is planned to move to The Canadian War Museum in 2009.