Often when thinking of camouflage, one thinks of concealment, however, camouflage also means to disrupt shapes in order to confuse.  During World War I, camouflage as concealment and disruption was used.  For camouflaging ships, disruption or dazzle camouflage was used to confuse U-boat captains as to the direction and speed of ships.   Artists and designers as camoufleurs created camouflage plans and oversaw them being applied.  

Maurice L. Freedman was a World War I camoufleur who donated the plans and photos in the collection of the Fleet Library at RISD. Maurice was the district camoufleur for the 4th district of the U.S. Shipping Board, Emergency Fleet Corporation. Maurice attending the first camouflage school in United States.  As a district camoufleur, Maurice's job was to take the plans and hire painters (artists, house painters) to paint the ships accordingly. If the plans needed to be adjusted, this was also his responsibility. According to one of the photos from our collection, the SS Everglades was the first ship launched in the U.S. already camouflaged July 29, 1918 in Florida.

Maurice came to RISD after the war and studied drawing and painting. He worked in Providence as a commercial artist. He came up with one of the first versions of the game Battleship. In the 1950s, he became the Assistant Art Director of Paramount Cards. 

Our collection consists of 455 plans (includes port and starboard sides of a ship) and 20 photos. There are 10 types of merchant ships represented with multiple designs for each of those ships.

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