Charles Bittinger (June 27, 1879 – December 18, 1970) was an American artist who explored the use of scientific techniques for artistic purposes. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he also played a prominent role in the development of naval

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...

Background

Bittinger was born and raised in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

In 1898, he enrolled at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

, intending to become a scientist. Two years later, he dropped out and moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where he studied at the Sorbonne, the Ecole des Beaux Arts, and the

Académie Julian The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and qual ...

. While in Paris, he met and became married to a concert singer named Edith Gay. Together, they moved back to the U.S. in 1907, and settled in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, where he studied at the

Art Students League The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

, and became an active participant in prominent artists’ associations and exhibitions, including the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Frederick Styles Agate, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, an ...

Camouflage research

During World War I, Bittinger contributed to American naval camouflage. As an artist who had been trained in science as well, he served with the U.S. Naval Camouflage Section in the research subsection at the

Eastman Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...

Laboratories in

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

. There, he worked with physicist Loyd A. Jones and others on assessing the effectiveness of ship camouflage proposals.Bittinger, Charles (1940), “Naval Camouflage” in U.S. Naval Institute ''Proceedings'' (October), pp. 1394–1401. During that war, he also experimented with the camouflage-related use of colored filters, and with using colored lights to conceal aspects of a scene. According to an article in a popular magazine in 1921, he “painted an airplane wing with the German cross upon it, which when viewed by our .S.army through binoculars equipped with a red filter, discloses itself to be not the German cross, but the red, white and blue of the Allies. Thus an airplane could fly unscathed over the German lines and return home again without being fired upon” (''Literary Digest'' 1921). He resumed his camouflage research in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, in the course of which he worked with

Everett L. Warner Everett Longley Warner (July 16, 1877 – October 20, 1963) was an American Impressionist painter and printmaker, as well as a leading contributor to US Navy camouflage during both World Wars. Early years Warner was born in the small town of Vi ...

. In 1940, he published an essay on ship camouflage in the ''Proceedings'' of the U.S. Naval Institute.

Art-science explorations

Between the World Wars, Bittinger returned to Washington, D.C., and began experiments in the use of scientific findings in devising works of art. For example, in 1929, he created a series of murals, depicting stages in the life of

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

, for the

Franklin Institute The Franklin Institute is a science museum and a center of science education and research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named after the American scientist and wikt:statesman, statesman Benjamin Franklin. It houses the Benjamin Franklin ...

. These featured double images, one of which had been painted (and could be viewed) under

incandescent light An incandescent light bulb, also known as an incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe, is an electric light that produces illumination by Joule heating a #Filament, filament until it incandescence, glows. The filament is enclosed in a ...

, while the other had been painted (and required for viewing) under

ultraviolet light Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of th ...

. Six years later, he exhibited another comparable painting that, viewed with the unaided eye, depicted the famous transatlantic flight of

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, and author. On May 20–21, 1927, he made the first nonstop flight from New York (state), New York to Paris, a distance of . His aircra ...

, but when viewed through an optical instrument that Bittinger had invented, appeared instead to be the

Mona Lisa The ''Mona Lisa'' is a half-length portrait painting by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, ...

Eyewitness paintings

In 1937, the U.S. Navy and the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, natural sc ...

Miller, Ron (1976), ''Space Art: A Starlog Photo Guide Book''. New York: Starlog Press, p 17. invited Bittinger to paint on-site a total

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs approximately every six months, during the eclipse season i ...

Canton Island Canton Island (also known as Kanton or Abariringa), previously known as Mary Island, Mary Balcout's Island or Swallow Island, is the largest, northernmost, and , the sole inhabited island of the Phoenix Islands, in the Republic of Kiribati. It i ...

in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. In 1946, he was one of the artists invited by the U.S. Navy to witness and making paintings of the first atomic explosions at the

Bikini Atoll Bikini Atoll ( or ; Marshallese language, Marshallese: , , ), known as Eschscholtz Atoll between the 19th century and 1946, is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands consisting of 23 islands surrounding a central lagoon. The atoll is at the no ...

, the results of which are now online at the U.S. Naval Historical Center website.

Inventions

According to the records of the U.S. Patent Office, Bittinger is credited with the following patents: * U.S. Patent No. 1,342,247 une 1, 1920 Combining Reflected and Transmitted Light Waves of Varying Lengths to Produce Subjective Changes in Scenic Effects. * U.S. Patent No. 1,629,250 ay 17, 1927 Production and Utilization of Diachronic Inks. * U.S. Patent No. 1,781,999 arch 16, 1929 Rear View Mirror. * U.S. Patent No. 1,934,310 ith E.O. Hulburt, November 7, 1933 Visibility Meter and Method of Measuring Visibility.

References

External links

WWI American ship camouflage

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bittinger, Charles 1879 births 1970 deaths Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni University of Paris alumni Art Students League of New York alumni Académie Colarossi alumni 19th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American painters Camouflage researchers American expatriates in France 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists