# Maximilian Toch

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American chemist (1864–1946)

Maximilian Toch President of the Chemists Club, 1907 Born (1864-07-17)July 17, 1864 New York City, New York, US Died May 28, 1946(1946-05-28) (aged 81) New York City, New York, US Alma mater Cooper Union New York University Columbia University Known for Ship camouflage Scientific career Fields Industrial chemistry Institutions Toch Brothers Standard Varnish Works Cooper Union Beijing University Columbia University City College of New York National Academy of Design

**Maximilian Toch** (July 17, 1864 – May 28, 1946) was an American paint manufacturer and industrial chemist who developed a concrete filler method that was used in the construction of the [Panama Canal](/source/Panama_Canal). He was the co-owner of the New York firms Toch Brothers and the Standard Varnish Works, where he was head of research and production. Before and during [World War I](/source/World_War_I), he was a major contributor to the development of [ship camouflage](/source/Ship_camouflage) in the United States, as well as an early practitioner of the use of [chemistry](/source/Chemistry) in the authentication of works of art.

## Background

According to an obituary in the *New York Times* (1946), Toch was born and raised in New York. He attended [Cooper Union](/source/Cooper_Union)[1] and [New York University](/source/New_York_University) as an undergraduate, then completed his graduate studies at [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University). He also earned degrees in law. He taught chemistry and [chemical engineering](/source/Chemical_engineering) and industrial chemistry at colleges and universities, including [Cooper Union](/source/Cooper_Union), [Beijing University](/source/Beijing_University), [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University), [City College of New York](/source/City_College_of_New_York), and the [National Academy of Design](/source/National_Academy_of_Design).

## Ship camouflage

According to the *New York Times* (1946), in which Toch is referred to as "America’s first [camoufleur](/source/Camoufleurs)",[2] his contribution to [ship camouflage](/source/Ship_camouflage) included originating the color adopted by the U.S. Navy as standard "battleship gray". By his own account (Toch 1919), he had camouflaged fortifications in Panama as early as 1915, the success of which led to his being assigned to camouflage shipyards and docks on the East Coast of the U.S. during World War I.

In 1917, a ship concealment plan devised by Toch, known as the Toch System, was one of five camouflage measures approved by the U.S. Naval Consulting Board for use on merchant ships (Behrens 2009, pp. 350–351). He became convinced that it was largely impossible to lower the visibility of a ship, but that a better objective would be course deception,[3] popularly known as [dazzle camouflage](/source/Dazzle_camouflage).

## Art authentication

Photo post card of Maximilian Toch sent from Toch to A.J. Bogdanove in 1940

Toch’s outspoken views about the use of [chemical analysis](/source/Chemical_analysis) in authenticating works of art became controversial in the 1920s (Hendrick 1929), when he claimed that the majority of paintings attributed to [Rembrandt](/source/Rembrandt) had not in fact been painted by him (Toch 1931b[*[clarification needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_clarify)*]), including works in the collections of art museums. As a result, it was said at the time that art dealers "entertain a wholesome fear of him" (Hendrick 1919, p. 704).

## His writings

Toch produced books on subjects related to chemistry, among them *The Chemistry and Technology of Mixed Paints* (1907), *Materials for Permanent Painting (*1911), *How To Paint Permanent Pictures* (1922), *Paint, Paintings and Restoration* (1931), and *Protection and Decoration of Concrete* (1931). He was the uncle of art materials expert Ralph Mayer, author of *The Artist’s Handbook* (1940).

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** 24th Annual Report of the Trustees of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, May 26th, 1883. Accessed 2/6/2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** "Dr. Toch, Chemist and Art Expert, 81". *[New York Times](/source/New_York_Times)*. May 31, 1946. p. 23.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Toch, Maximilian (1931). "Adventures in Camouflage". *[The Military Engineer](/source/The_Military_Engineer)*. **23** (July–August): 307–309.

- [Behrens, Roy R.](/source/Roy_Behrens) (2002), *False Colors: Art, Design and Modern Camouflage*. Dysart, Iowa: Bobolink Books, p. 92. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-9713244-0-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-9713244-0-9).

- ___ (2009), *Camoupedia: A Compendium of Research on Art, Architecture and Camouflage*. Dysart, Iowa: Bobolink Books, pp. 236–238. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-9713244-6-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-9713244-6-6).

- Hendrick, Ellwood (1929), "American Contemporaries: Maximilian Toch" in *Industrial and Engineering Chemistry* Vol 21 No 7, p. 704.

- *New York Times* (1946), "Dr. Toch, Chemist and Art Expert, 81" (May 31), p. 23.

- Toch, Maximilian (1918), "The Fine Art of Military Camouflage" in *Munsey's Magazine* Vol 64 No 1 (June), pp. 5–8.

- ___(1919). "Discussion" in *Transactions of the Illuminating Engineering Society* Vol 14 (July 21), pp. 230–232.

- ___(1931), "Adventures in Camouflage" in *The Military Engineer* Vol 23 (July–August), pp. 307–309.

- [Warner, Everett L.](/source/Everett_Warner) (1919), "Fooling the Iron Fish: The Inside Story of Marine Camouflage" in *Everybody’s Magazine* (November), pp. 102–109.

## External links

- [Works by Maximilian Toch](https://librivox.org/author/18237) at [LibriVox](/source/LibriVox) (public domain audiobooks)

v t e Camoufleurs World War I Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scévola Jean-Louis Forain Louis Guingot Loyd A. Jones John Graham Kerr Paul Klee Franz Marc Alister Hardy André Mare Kimon Nicolaïdes Solomon Joseph Solomon Abbott Handerson Thayer Maximilian Toch Leon Underwood Edward Wadsworth Everett Warner Norman Wilkinson World War II Tony Ayrton Geoffrey Barkas Hugh Casson John Codner Bainbridge Copnall Hugh B. Cott Victorine Foot Frederick Gore Stanley William Hayter Ivan Konev Jasper Maskelyne Oliver Messel Colin Moss Roland Penrose Peter Proud Fred Pusey Brian Robb Peter Scott Edward Seago Alan Sorrell Basil Spence Steven Sykes Ernest Townsend Julian Trevelyan Wilfred Clement Von Berg

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Maximilian Toch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Toch) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Toch?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.