Camouflage in Nature

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

Luna Caterpillar Upside Down and Right Side Up
Illustration by Abbott Handerson Thayer

The beauty of painting outdoors is in the opportunity to spend long stretches of time observing. Nature reveals more and more of herself to us the longer we look. Seemingly simple subjects show their complexity, educating us along the way.

American artist Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849 - 1921) was a painter of landscapes, animals and portraits. His obsession with nature led him into the study of the camouflage of animals. He became well-known during his lifetime not only for his paintings, but for his book, Concealing-Coloration in the Animal Kingdom, first published in 1909. But Thayer was not a scientist, and in attempting to apply his theories of camouflage broadly across the animal kingdom, he was harshly criticized by other naturalists and even at length, by Theodore Roosevelt.

Although he may have overstated his theories, Thayer had made …