In december 1915, andré mare joined the army camouflage section. This section specializes in all issues related to camouflage. A new problem which arose following the stabilization of the front lines and the need to hide troops and artillery from the eyes of the enemy. From then on, the soldiers of this section will work to make the uniforms more discreet and the different weapons less visible. In order to achieve this feat, the soldiers of the camouflage section (the vast majority of whom are artists or theater designers in civilian life) will draw inspiration from cubist standards to deconstruct the shapes and colors in order to make the artillery pieces unrecognizable as is the case with this 280 cannon. The latter, painted in flat areas of color of irregular shapes, blends into its environment (made up of trees and houses) until it disappears. Completely out of the viewer's field of vision. It is only possible to distinguish the tip of the cannon and the metal plate which protected the gunners who reloaded the cannon. The rest of the canon is made indistinguishable thanks to the use of unstructured geometric shapes and very different flat areas of color. The aim of this process was therefore to blend the cannon into its environment to hide it from the eyes of the enemy. The objective was thus twofold: to attack the enemy without being able to be spotted and to prevent the cannon from being visible to the enemy so as not to be destroyed. Date: between 1914 and 1918. Dimensions: height: 34.4 cm (13.5 in); width: 42 cm (16.5 in). Medium: indian ink on paper, watercolor. Collection: La contemporaine. Le 280 canon camouflé
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