Object numberOM-18947
DescriptionPRINT: 'Surrender of the German High Seas Fleet, November 21st 1918' by Norman Wilkinson PRI, ORI, RSA. Framed and glazed, 840 mm x 660mm.
Label from '1919: The Scuttling of the German Fleet' at Orkney Museum from 4th May to 2nd November 2019:
Norman Wilkinson PRI, ORI, RSA (1878-1971), Surrender of German High Seas Fleet, November 21st 1918, print after oil painting
Norman Wilkinson was born in Cambridge. He studied art in various locations in England, and in Paris, but was primarily interested in maritime subjects, working in oils, watercolours and drypoint. He was also an illustrator and poster artist for the Government and various railway companies.
He served with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in World War I and, during this time, came up with the concept of dazzle camouflage for ships. He wrote in his autobiography, A Brush with Life (1969), that the design should be painted "not for low visibility, but in such a way as to break up (a ship's) form and thus confuse a submarine officer as to the course on which she was heading."
This idea was adopted by the Admiralty, and Wilkinson was placed in charge of a naval camouflage unit, working with other artists on schemes and models, which were tested and then applied to actual ships. Wilkinson also worked on camouflage of airfields in World War II, as well as travelling and recording the war at sea. The group of oil paintings he produced is now at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.
This print shows part of a larger oil painting depicting HMS Cardiff leading the German ships into the Firth of Forth on 21 November 1918. The original painting hangs in City Hall, Cardiff.
Accession number 2006.43
Materialpaper, wood, glass