The Art of War: How the Surrealists Helped Upend Camouflage and Redefine Modern Battle

Not long ago, in a coffee table book about Surrealist and photojournalist Lee Miller, I spotted a curious photo of Miller sprawled naked on a lawn, her skin covered in greenish dirt and chunks of turf. “Lee Miller in camouflage,” read the caption. A brief passage casually explained that Surrealist artist Roland Penrose—Miller’s lover and later her husband—had used the photo in lectures on wartime camouflage. He and other Surrealists had, at the beginning of the Second World War, formed a camouflage services unit and were later absorbed into official camouflage roles in the British military. Wait—what?A Surrealist camouflage unit?… Read Full Article