A range-finder painting, sometimes called range-finding painting, is a large

landscape painting Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent compos ...

produced as a training device to help gunners improve their accuracy. Historically, the best-documented use of such paintings was in the United States during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

History

During World War I, some military gunnery training was carried out indoors. While it is relatively simple to train gunners in

range-finding A rangefinder (also rangefinding telemeter, depending on the context) is a device used to measure distances to remote objects. Originally optical devices used in surveying, they soon found applications in other fields, such as photography a ...

(that is, estimating the correct distance for their shots) outdoors, it is difficult to train them in long-range gunnery indoors. To solve this problem, the British and U.S. militaries tested the use of large landscape paintings showing distant sites for range-finding and target-sighting in indoor gun ranges. These so-called range-finder paintings proved so successful that a program was organized in the United States to produce them in larger numbers. They were also used to teach soldiers how to draw military maps in the field and how to identify points of military importance such as zones of good cover. In 1918, the

Salmagundi Club The Salmagundi Club, sometimes referred to as the Salmagundi Art Club, is a fine arts center founded in 1871 in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan, New York City. Since 1917, it has been located at 47 Fifth Avenue. , its membership roster ...

in New York spearheaded the effort to produce range-finder paintings for the U.S. military, providing canvas and painting materials. The program resulted in dozens of landscape paintings of various French and Belgian sites that were roughly . Most showed towns and villages in the near or middle distance, along with other militarily important features such as roads, bridges, canals, fields, forests, and hills. The painter

Ernest L. Blumenschein Ernest Leonard Blumenschein (May 26, 1874 – June 6, 1960) was an American artist and founding member of the Taos Society of Artists. He is noted for paintings of Native Americans, New Mexico and the American Southwest. Early life and educat ...

helped to draft and organize artists across the United States for this effort, especially in his home town of

Taos, New Mexico Taos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Initially founded in 1615, it was intermittently occupied until its formal establishment in 1795 by Nuevo México Governor Fernando Cha ...

, and nearby Santa Fe. In Taos alone, 15 such range-finder paintings of landscapes in France were produced in 1918. Some of these were sent to Camp Cody in southern New Mexico and to

Camp Funston Camp Funston is a U.S. Army training camp located on Fort Riley, southwest of Manhattan, Kansas. The camp was named for Brigadier General Frederick Funston (1865–1917). It is one of sixteen such camps established at the outbreak of World War ...

in Kansas. Artists who participated besides Blumenschein included

Gustave Baumann Gustave Baumann (June 27, 1881 – October 8, 1971) was an American printmaker and painter, and one of the leading figures of the color woodcut revival in America. His works have been shown at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, The C ...

O.E. Berninghaus Oscar Edmund Berninghaus (October 2, 1874 – April 27, 1952) was an American artist and a founding member of the Taos Society of Artists. He is best known for his paintings of Native Americans, New Mexico and the American Southwest. His son, ...

Harriet Blackstone Harriet Blackstone (November 13, 1864 – March 16, 1939) was an American figure and portrait painter. Many of her subjects were midwestern business leaders and their families she also painted a number of prominent musicians. Early life and ed ...

Paul Burlin Paul Burlin (September 10, 1886 – March 13, 1969) was an American modern and abstract expressionist painter. Childhood Paul Burlin was born Isadore Berlin to Jacob and Julia Berlin in 1886 in New York. The family name was originally Berlins ...

, Ethel Coe, E. Irving Couse,

W. Herbert Dunton William Herbert "Buck" Dunton (August 28, 1878 – March 18, 1936) was an American artist and a founding member of the Taos Society of Artists. He is noted for paintings of cowboys, New Mexico, and the American Southwest. Early life and educatio ...

Leon Gaspard Leon Schulman Gaspard (2 March 1882 - 21 February 1964) was a Russian Empire-born painter, known for his paintings of indigenous cultures and folk traditions. He tended to paint scenes with throngs of people, and his favorite locations were in s ...

, Burt Harwood, Lee Hersch, J.T. Hunter, Sheldon Parsons,

Bert Geer Phillips Bert Geer Phillips (July 15, 1868 – June 16, 1956) was an American artist and a founding member of the Taos Society of Artists. He settled in Taos, New Mexico (1898) and was a founder of the Taos art colony. He is known for his paintings of Na ...

, J.H. Sharp, Walter Ufer, Cordelia Wilson, and Jay Young-Hunter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:range-finder painting Painting Visual arts genres Landscape art by type Military education and training Length, distance, or range measuring devices