during WWll by Arthur B. Singer
My father, Arthur Singer, was a well known wildlife artist who died in 1990, leaving behind a thousand paintings and illustrations and some wonderful watercolors made as far back as the late 1930's (some under very difficult circumstances). From a naturalist's perspective he knew about the effectiveness of camouflage, the study of which coincidentally was pioneered by another bird artist - Abbott Thayer over a hundred years ago.
My father served his time in the U.S. Army with a battalion of other artists and their operations were keep totally secret. What did these artists do during the war? They contributed in many ways which will be revealed in a new documentary special to be aired on PBS this coming May 21st. Watch for "The Ghost Army - Artists of Deception" on TV that night.
Timed to coincide with the broadcast, a new exhibition has opened this week for a month at The Edward Hopper House in Nyack, New York. Featured there are some of my father's best watercolors from WWll ( yes, he brought a set of watercolors to war and some fine Whatman paper too! ). You can read a review that was just published in the New York Times for this show, here is the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/nyregion/a-review-of-artists-of-deception-at-edward-hopper-house-art-center-in-nyack.html?src=twr
Portrait by Arthur Singer