Lozenge and Paul Klee

Grovetown · 22 August 2005, 05:09 AM

A little OT in this context, but there is a far more direct intersection between art and camouflage if you consider the Navy, Royal; the Dazzle Ships and the role of the Vorticists.

Vorticism was a very short-lived school deriving from Cubism and Futurism that found direct engagement on the ships. Dazzle Ships were the inspiration of painter Lt Norman Wilkinson, and designs were executed (among others) by Vorticist painter - then in the RN - Edward Wadsworth.

You then have the entertaining circularity of Wadsworth painting Dazzle Ships as art which he had designed the schemes for.

If you want to get really OCD about it, there is the book

DPM

Best wishes,

Grovetown.

Barker · 22 August 2005, 05:26 AM

Is this where "The Navee" sketch from Python originates?

"I want to be a liontamer."

And speaking of Scots.
When do we get to dixguss Things Plaid, The Clans, Heath-y Colours and Mel Gibson?

Skirts?
Them are some real interior decorators.

NeilE · 22 August 2005, 06:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barker

Is When do we get to dixguss Things Plaid, The Clans, Heath-y Colours and Mel Gibson?

Skirts?
Them are some real interior decorators.

Mel Gibson???

Are you talkin homos agin???

Mr Hat

Barker · 22 August 2005, 07:42 AM

Absolutely.

buzz1941 · 26 August 2005, 12:41 PM

NeilE hit the nail on the head when he brought up the Pointilist branch of Impressionism -- the cumulative effect is made up of discrete elements. Although I believe pointilism was also heavily influenced by the process of reproductive half-toning.

Lozenge cammo is meant to be viewed at a distance, where it blends. And meant to be mass-produced with consistant results. Preprinting fabric was a brilliant way of achieving both goals.

The thing is, camouflage was a fairly new art at the time, and it was taken VERY seriously by all sides in the Great War.

Barker · 26 August 2005, 01:38 PM

I think this entire thread is becoming camouflaged.

Koloman Mayrhofer · 30 August 2005, 12:25 AM

hallo everybody

it is a long time ago that i have studied the work of paul klee and i can remember no particular one with a relation to the lozenge pattern but as a fact paul klee was working at an aircraft depot during the war and was responsible for packing them for transport so at least he must have been aware of this printed fabric .

oskar schlemmer another important geman artist from that period worked as a draftsmen during second world war developing camouflage shemes for bunkers .

at that time it was not uncommon that artists are commisioned for jobs not so strictly related to art but make good use of there artistic abilities .
george grosz ,by the way father of peter grosz made a lot of bookcovers for instance .

there is a huge paul klee exhibition in austria at the moment so i will have a look at it .

koloman mayrhofer

Roadhog · 30 August 2005, 08:28 AM

Dear Fellow Art Patrons: It is so refreshing to get the opportunity, albeit however brief, to occassionaly rise about the common passions of the great unwashed.

It is my considered opinion that Paul Klee's work is one man's futile attempt to embrace the nihilism of the early 20th Century. When viewed as a whole, it is clear that Klee's body of work is symbolically void of symbolism. Hence, realistically, we could see lozenge as an escape into early and experimantal cubism.

Thanks Art History 101! I just knew I'd be able to use this crap one day! VR, Roadhog "Memento mori."

Barker · 30 August 2005, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roadhog

Dear Fellow Art Patrons: It is my considered opinion that Paul Klee's work is one man's futile attempt to embrace the nihilism of the early 20th Century.

That's Victor Buono or Wiktor, to the Informanatti.
His brother and sister ships were never found.

EricGoedkoop · 30 August 2005, 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roadhog

It is my considered opinion that Paul Klee's work is one man's futile attempt to embrace the nihilism of the early 20th Century.

Embrace or reflect?

Quote:

When viewed as a whole, it is clear that Klee's body of work is symbolically void of symbolism. Hence, realistically, we could see lozenge as an escape into early and experimantal cubism.

I don't know about that - if it IS the ghost of lozenge camouflage we see in Klee's post-war work then I'd say it's not Cubism at all. The early (read Analytical) Cubists' goal was representing real, everyday objects in a different way, capturing in a static form the experience of an object from multiple viewpoints or through a period of time, which again is in some ways the intellectual child of Cezanne and his onions that have sprouted greenery. Picasso and Braque's first forays were next-generation still lifes/portraits. I think Klee's "void of symbolism" reflects a man being affected by things in the world he cannot control, and the War is one of them. It certainly influenced his life and philosophy as it would anyone's, and if it emerged in his work in the form of lozenge-like patterns than I'd say it was as one of the winds that blew his boat.

Klee's work is personal and is about his relationship and/or isolation from the world, like Munch, Klimt, Van Gogh, etc. The other side of that coin was Futurism, which was about the world and being embraced or engulfed by the changes happening around you - for better or worse.

Quote:

I knew I'd be able to use this crap one day!

But I still haven't found a need for Calculus . . . . .