Dazzle

The information board located on the South Bank near the OXO Tower tells us:

Dazzle
ShipLondon
14-18 - Now
WWI Centenary Art Commissions

Opposite you on the north bank of the river, artist Tobias Rehberger has created a contemporary dazzle design for HMS President (1918) as part of 14-18 NOW, WWI Centenary Art Commissions. This temporary artwork takes as its starting point a style of optical distortion used extensively during the First World War, called Dazzle painting.

Devised by British artist Norman Wilkinson and supervised by vorticist artist Edward Wadsworth, the camouflage technique incorporated bold shapes and strong contrasts, with an aim to confuse rather than conceal.

The HMS President (1918) is one of three surviving WWI warships. It was 'dazzled' on its launch in 1918 under its original name HMS Saxifrage.