Invisible: Abbott Thayer and the Art of Camouflage

Monadnock Artist and Naturalist Is Known As Father of Modern Camouflage

Invisible: Abbott Thayer and the Art of Camouflage

There are no scheduled airdates for this program.

The life and works of the passionate New Hampshire artist, naturalist, and teacher Abbott Thayer (1849-1921) is explored in this documentary. The film recognizes Thayer as the father of modern camouflage, and for his outstanding contributions to art and the conservation of Mt. Monadnock.

One of America’s greatest artists and most influential naturalists is the subject of the documentary Invisible: Abbott Thayer and the Art of Camouflage. Abbott Thayer, once a sought-after society portrait artist, abandoned that career to live in the shadow of Mount Monadnock and explore New Hampshire’s wilderness.  A man who understood nature well enough to unlock its secrets, Thayer pioneered the earliest ideas of modern camouflage. His other accomplishments include success as a painter, helping to permanently protect Mount Monadnock and promoting the idea of bird sanctuaries.

In 1910, Thayer abandoned painting the portraits he commanded thousands for and turned his focus fully to his other passion, concealing coloration.  During WWI, Thayer, who was undyingly dedicated to everything he undertook, destroyed his health in a frenzied attempt to persuade the Allies to adopt his then-revolutionary theories about camouflage.  After being rejected by the Allies and publicly ridiculed by (President) Teddy Roosevelt, Thayer checked himself into a sanitarium to keep from killing himself.  Few listened to the eccentric artist’s ideas until long after his death.  Now, Thayer may be remembered as the father of modern camouflage; as well as an artist, teacher, and a man who fought heroically to permanently preserve the majestic Mt. Monadnock.

Thayer is recognized for his landscapes, delicate flower paintings, ethereal angels and portraits of women and children. He was known as a "soul painter" who expressed the spiritual in much of his work. Many of Thayer’s paintings depict Monadnock landscapes and the animals he observed there. His work stands alongside other distinguished artists of that generation, including John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler, and Winslow Homer, and they can be found in private collections or at the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum and the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Actress Jane Alexander, who climbed Mount Monadnock as a child, narrates the film; actor Harry Hamlin is the voice of Thayer. Pam Peabody, a long-time Dublin resident who produced the documentary, says that she was inspired to tell Thayer’s story because she grew up near where he lived, where his memorial stone could be seen from her home. Peabody has also produced films about Edith Wharton, the Washington, D.C., Shakespeare Theatre, and for PBS’s American Masters series.