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Black is a
Black was one of the first colors used by artists in Neolithic cave paintings.[4] It was used in ancient Egypt and Greece as the color of the underworld.[5] In Ancient Egypt, black had positive associations; being the color of fertility and the rich black soil flooded by the Nile. In the Roman Empire, it became the color of mourning, and over the centuries it was frequently associated with death, evil, witches, and magic.[6] In the 14th century, it was worn by royalty, clergy, judges, and government officials in much of Europe. It became the color worn by English romantic poets, businessmen and statesmen in the 19th century, and a high fashion color in the 20th century.[3] According to surveys in Europe and North America, it is the color most commonly associated with mourning, the end, secrets, magic, force, violence, fear, evil, and elegance.[7]
Black is the most common
Etymology
The word black comes from
Old High German also had two words for black: swartz for dull black and blach for a luminous black. These are parallelled in Middle English by the terms swart for dull black and blaek for luminous black. Swart still survives as the word swarthy, while blaek became the modern English black.[10] The former is cognate with the words used for black in most modern Germanic languages aside from English (German: schwarz, Dutch: zwart, Swedish: svart, Danish: sort, Icelandic: svartr).[12] In heraldry, the word used for the black color is sable,[13] named for the black fur of the sable, an animal.
Art
Prehistoric
Black was one of the first colors used in art. The
Ancient
For the ancient Egyptians, black had positive associations; being the color of fertility and the rich black soil flooded by the Nile. It was the color of
In the social hierarchy of ancient Rome, purple was reserved for the Emperor; red was the color worn by soldiers (red cloaks for the officers, red tunics for the soldiers); white the color worn by the priests, and black was worn by craftsmen and artisans. The black they wore was not deep and rich; the vegetable dyes used to make black were not solid or lasting, so the blacks often faded to gray or brown.[15]
In Latin, the word for black, ater and to darken, atere, were associated with cruelty, brutality and evil. They were the root of the English words "atrocious" and "atrocity".[16] For the Romans, black symbolized death and mourning. In the 2nd century BC Roman magistrates wore a dark toga, called a toga pulla, to funeral ceremonies. Later, under the Empire, the family of the deceased also wore dark colors for a long period; then, after a banquet to mark the end of mourning, exchanged the black for a white toga. In Roman poetry, death was called the hora nigra, the black hour.[10]
The German and Scandinavian peoples worshipped their own goddess of the night,
Postclassical
In the early Middle Ages, black was commonly associated with darkness and evil. In Medieval paintings, the devil was usually depicted as having human form, but with wings and black skin or hair.[18]
12th and 13th centuries
In fashion, black did not have the prestige of red, the color of the nobility. It was worn by
Black symbolized both power and secrecy in the medieval world. The emblem of the Holy Roman Empire of Germany was a black eagle. The black knight in the poetry of the Middle Ages was an enigmatic figure, hiding his identity, usually wrapped in secrecy.[20]
Black ink, invented in China, was traditionally used in the Middle Ages for writing, for the simple reason that black was the darkest color and therefore provided the greatest contrast with white paper or parchment, making it the easiest color to read. It became even more important in the 15th century, with the invention of printing. A new kind of ink, printer's ink, was created out of soot, turpentine and walnut oil. The new ink made it possible to spread ideas to a mass audience through printed books, and to popularize art through black and white prints. Because of its contrast and clarity, black ink on white paper continued to be the standard for printing books, newspapers and documents; and for the same reason black text on a white background is the most common format used on computer screens.[8]
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The Italian painterChrist expelling the Devil, shown covered with bristly black hair (1308–11).
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The 15th-century painting of the Last Judgement by Fra Angelico (1395–1455) depicted hell with a vivid black devil devouring sinners.
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Portrait of a monk of theBenedictine Order(1484)
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The black knight in a miniature painting of a medieval romance,Le Livre du cœur d'amour épris (about 1460)
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Gutenberg Bible (1451–1452). Black ink was used for printing books, because it provided the greatest contrast with the white paper and was the clearest and easiest color to read.
14th and 15th centuries
In the early Middle Ages, princes, nobles and the wealthy usually wore bright colors, particularly scarlet cloaks from Italy. Black was rarely part of the wardrobe of a noble family. The one exception was the fur of the sable. This glossy black fur, from an animal of the marten family, was the finest and most expensive fur in Europe. It was imported from Russia and Poland and used to trim the robes and gowns of royalty.
In the 14th century, the status of black began to change. First, high-quality black dyes began to arrive on the market, allowing garments of a deep, rich black. Magistrates and government officials began to wear black robes, as a sign of the importance and seriousness of their positions. A third reason was the passage of
The change to the more austere but elegant black was quickly picked up by the kings and nobility. It began in northern Italy, where the Duke of Milan and the Count of Savoy and the rulers of Mantua, Ferrara, Rimini and Urbino began to dress in black. It then spread to France, led by
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Portrait of a Young Girl , Petrus Christus, between 1465–70
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Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, Titian, c.1500–1558
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Portrait of Philip II of Spain (1527–1598)
Modern
16th and 17th centuries
While black was the color worn by the Catholic rulers of Europe, it was also the emblematic color of the Protestant Reformation in Europe and the Puritans in England and America. John Calvin, Philip Melanchthon and other Protestant theologians denounced the richly colored and decorated interiors of Roman Catholic churches. They saw the color red, worn by the Pope and his Cardinals, as the color of luxury, sin, and human folly.[23] In some northern European cities, mobs attacked churches and cathedrals, smashed the stained glass windows and defaced the statues and decoration. In Protestant doctrine, clothing was required to be sober, simple and discreet. Bright colors were banished and replaced by blacks, browns and grays; women and children were recommended to wear white.[24]
In the Protestant Netherlands,
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Increase Mather, an American Puritan clergyman (1688).
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Rembrandt, Self-portrait (1659)
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John, Duke of Braganza, later King John IV of Portugal (1628)
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Black painted suit of German armor crafted circa 1600.[26]
In the second part of the 17th century, Europe and America experienced an epidemic of fear of
Witch trials were common in both Europe and America during this period. During the notorious Salem witch trials in New England in 1692–93, one of those on trial was accused of being able turn into a "black thing with a blue cap," and others of having familiars in the form of a black dog, a black cat and a black bird.[28] Nineteen women and men were hanged as witches.[29]
18th and 19th centuries
In the 18th century, during the European
A different kind of black was an important part of the
The invention of inexpensive synthetic black dyes and the industrialization of the textile industry meant that high-quality black clothes were available for the first time to the general population. In the 19th century black gradually became the most popular color of business dress of the upper and middle classes in England, the Continent, and America. Black dominated literature and fashion in the 19th century, and played a large role in painting. James McNeill Whistler made the color the subject of his most famous painting, Arrangement in grey and black number one (1871), better known as Whistler's Mother.[31]
Some 19th-century French painters had a low opinion of black: "Reject black,"
Pierre-Auguste Renoir used luminous blacks, especially in his portraits. When someone told him that black was not a color, Renoir replied: "What makes you think that? Black is the queen of colors. I always detested Prussian blue. I tried to replace black with a mixture of red and blue, I tried using cobalt blue or ultramarine, but I always came back to ivory black."[35]
Vincent van Gogh used black lines to outline many of the objects in his paintings, such as the bed in the famous painting of his bedroom. making them stand apart. His painting of black crows over a cornfield, painted shortly before he died, was particularly agitated and haunting. In the late 19th century, black also became the color of anarchism. (See the section political movements.)
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Portrait of Empress Teresa Cristina of Brazil (circa 1870)
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Arrangement in Grey and Black Number 1 (1871) by James McNeill Whistler better known as Whistler's Mother.
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The Theater Box (1874) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, captured the luminosity of black fabric in the light.
20th and 21st centuries
In the 20th century, black was utilised by Italian and German
Black was appreciated by Henri Matisse. "When I didn't know what color to put down, I put down black," he said in 1945. "Black is a force: I used black as ballast to simplify the construction ... Since the impressionists it seems to have made continuous progress, taking a more and more important part in color orchestration, comparable to that of the double bass as a solo instrument."[38]
In the 1950s, black came to be a symbol of individuality and intellectual and social rebellion, the color of those who did not accept established norms and values. In Paris, it was worn by Left-Bank intellectuals and performers such as
In men's fashion, black gradually ceded its dominance to navy blue, particularly in business suits. Black evening dress and formal dress in general were worn less and less. In 1960,
Women's fashion was revolutionized and simplified in 1926 by the French designer Coco Chanel, who published a drawing of a simple black dress in Vogue magazine. She famously said, "A woman needs just three things; a black dress, a black sweater, and, on her arm, a man she loves."[39] French designer Jean Patou also followed suit by creating a black collection in 1929.[40] Other designers contributed to the trend of the little black dress. The Italian designer Gianni Versace said, "Black is the quintessence of simplicity and elegance," and French designer Yves Saint Laurent said, "black is the liaison which connects art and fashion.[39] One of the most famous black dresses of the century was designed by Hubert de Givenchy and was worn by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's.
The American
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Black Square, Kazimir Malevich, 1915
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Queen Marie of Romania, Constantin Pascali, early 1920s
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The 21st centurygoth fashion model Lady Amaranth, in a style inspired by British Victorian mourning costumes
Science
Physics
In the
that absorb light rather than reflect it back to the eye look black. A black pigment can, however, result from a combination of several pigments that collectively absorb all wavelengths of visible light. If appropriate proportions of three primary pigments are mixed, the result reflects so little light as to be called black. This provides two superficially opposite but actually complementary descriptions of black. Black is the color produced by the absorption of all wavelengths of visible light, or an exhaustive combination of multiple colors of pigment.In physics, a
Absorption of light is contrasted by transmission, reflection and diffusion, where the light is only redirected, causing objects to appear transparent, reflective or white respectively. A material is said to be black if most incoming light is absorbed equally in the material. Light (electromagnetic radiation in the visible spectrum) interacts with the atoms and molecules, which causes the energy of the light to be converted into other forms of energy, usually heat. This means that black surfaces can act as thermal collectors, absorbing light and generating heat (see Solar thermal collector).
As of September 2019, the darkest material is made from vertically aligned carbon nanotubes. The material was grown by MIT engineers and was reported to have a 99.995% absorption rate of any incoming light.[9] This surpasses any former darkest materials including Vantablack, which has a peak absorption rate of 99.965% in the visible spectrum.[42]
Chemistry
Pigments
The earliest pigments used by Neolithic man were
- Vine black was produced in Roman times by burning the cut branches of grapevines. It could also be produced by burning the remains of the crushed grapes, which were collected and dried in an oven. According to the historian Vitruvius, the deepness and richness of the black produced corresponded to the quality of the wine. The finest wines produced a black with a bluish tinge the color of indigo.
The 15th-century painter Cennino Cennini described how this pigment was made during the Renaissance in his famous handbook for artists: "...there is a black which is made from the tendrils of vines. And these tendrils need to be burned. And when they have been burned, throw some water onto them and put them out and then mull them in the same way as the other black. And this is a lean and black pigment and is one of the perfect pigments that we use."[44]
Cennini also noted that "There is another black which is made from burnt almond shells or peaches and this is a perfect, fine black."[44] Similar fine blacks were made by burning the pits of the peach, cherry or apricot. The powdered charcoal was then mixed with gum arabic or the yellow of an egg to make a paint.
Different civilizations burned different plants to produce their charcoal pigments. The Inuit of Alaska used wood charcoal mixed with the blood of seals to paint masks and wooden objects. The Polynesians burned coconuts to produce their pigment.
- Lamp black was used as a pigment for painting and frescoes, as a dye for fabrics, and in some societies for making tattoos. The 15th century Florentine painter Cennino Cennini described how it was made during the Renaissance: "... take a lamp full of linseed oil and fill the lamp with the oil and light the lamp. Then place it, lit, under a thoroughly clean pan and make sure that the flame from the lamp is two or three fingers from the bottom of the pan. The smoke that comes off the flame will hit the bottom of the pan and gather, becoming thick. Wait a bit. take the pan and brush this pigment (that is, this smoke) onto paper or into a pot with something. And it is not necessary to mull or grind it because it is a very fine pigment. Re-fill the lamp with the oil and put it under the pan like this several times and, in this way, make as much of it as is necessary."[44] This same pigment was used by Indian artists to paint the Ajanta Caves, and as dye in ancient Japan.[43]
- Ivory black, also known as bone char, was originally produced by burning ivory and mixing the resulting charcoal powder with oil. The color is still made today, but ordinary animal bones are substituted for ivory.
- iron oxides. It is commonly used in water-colors and oil painting. It takes its name from Mars, the god of war and patron of iron.
Dyes
Good-quality black
A much richer and deeper black dye was eventually found made from the oak apple or "gall-nut". The gall-nut is a small round tumor which grows on oak and other varieties of trees. They range in size from 2–5 cm, and are caused by chemicals injected by the larva of certain kinds of gall wasp in the family Cynipidae.[45] The dye was very expensive; a great quantity of gall-nuts were needed for a very small amount of dye. The gall-nuts which made the best dye came from Poland, eastern Europe, the near east and North Africa. Beginning in about the 14th century, dye from gall-nuts was used for clothes of the kings and princes of Europe.[46]
Another important source of natural black dyes from the 17th century onwards was the
Since the mid-19th century, synthetic black dyes have largely replaced natural dyes. One of the important synthetic blacks is
Inks
The first known inks were made by the Chinese, and date back to the 23rd century B.C. They used natural plant dyes and minerals such as
The ancient Romans had a black writing ink they called atramentum librarium.[52] Its name came from the Latin word atrare, which meant to make something black. (This was the same root as the English word atrocious.) It was usually made, like India ink, from soot, although one variety, called atramentum elephantinum, was made by burning the ivory of elephants.[53]
Gall-nuts were also used for making fine black writing ink. Iron gall ink (also known as iron gall nut ink or oak gall ink) was a purple-black or brown-black ink made from iron salts and tannic acids from gall nut. It was the standard writing and drawing ink in Europe, from about the 12th century to the 19th century, and remained in use well into the 20th century.
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Sticks of vine charcoal and compressed charcoal. Charcoal, along with red and yellow ochre, was one of the first pigments used by Paleolithic man.
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A Chinese inkstick, in the form of lotus flowers and blossoms. Inksticks are used in Chinese calligraphy and brush painting.
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Ivory black or bone char, a natural black pigment made by burning animal bones.
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The oak apple or gall-nut, a tumor growing on oak trees, was the main source of black dye and black writing ink from the 14th century until the 19th century.
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The industrial production oflamp black, made by producing, collecting and refining soot, in 1906.
Astronomy
- A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravity prevents anything, including light, from escaping.[54] The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined boundary called an event horizon that marks the point of no return. It is called "black" because it absorbs all the light that hits the horizon, reflecting nothing, just like a perfect black body in thermodynamics.[55][56] Black holes of stellar mass are expected to form when very massive stars collapse at the end of their life cycle. After a black hole has formed it can continue to grow by absorbing mass from its surroundings. By absorbing other stars and merging with other black holes, supermassive black holes of millions of solar masses may form. There is general consensus that supermassive black holes exist in the centers of most galaxies. Although a black hole itself is black, infalling material forms an accretion disk, one of the brightest types of object in the universe.
- Black-body radiation refers to the radiation coming from a body at a given temperature where all incoming energy (light) is converted to heat.
- Black sky refers to the appearance of space as one emerges from Earth's atmosphere.
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Image of the NGC 406 galaxy from the Hubble Space Telescope
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The night sky seen from Mars, with the two moons of Mars visible, taken by the NASA Spirit Rover.
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Outside Earth's atmosphere, the sky is black day and night.
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An illustration ofOlbers' paradox(see below)
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Image of the central black hole of Messier 87 taken by the Event Horizon Telescope.
Why the night sky and space are black – Olbers' paradox
The fact that
The current accepted answer is that, although the universe may be infinitely large, it is not infinitely old. It is thought to be about 13.8 billion years old, so we can only see objects as far away as the distance light can travel in 13.8 billion years. Light from stars farther away has not reached Earth, and cannot contribute to making the sky bright. Furthermore, as the universe is expanding, many stars are moving away from Earth. As they move, the wavelength of their light becomes longer, through the Doppler effect, and shifts toward red, or even becomes invisible. As a result of these two phenomena, there is not enough starlight to make space anything but black.[57]
The daytime sky on Earth is blue because light from the Sun strikes molecules in Earth's atmosphere scattering light in all directions. Blue light is scattered more than other colors, and reaches the eye in greater quantities, making the daytime sky appear blue. This is known as Rayleigh scattering.
The nighttime sky on Earth is black because the part of Earth experiencing night is facing away from the Sun, the light of the Sun is blocked by Earth itself, and there is no other bright nighttime source of light in the vicinity. Thus, there is not enough light to undergo Rayleigh scattering and make the sky blue. On the Moon, on the other hand, because there is virtually no atmosphere to scatter the light, the sky is black both day and night. This also holds true for other locations without an atmosphere, such as Mercury.
Biology
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American black bear (Ursus americanus) near Riding Mountain Park, Manitoba, Canada
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The black mamba of Africa is one of the most venomous snakes, as well as the fastest-moving snake in the world.
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The black widow spider, or latrodectus, The females frequently eat their male partners after mating. The female's venom is at least three times more potent than that of the males, making a male's self-defense bite ineffective.
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Arecessivegene.
Culture
In China, the color black is associated with water, one of the five fundamental elements believed to compose all things; and with winter, cold, and the direction north, usually symbolized by a black tortoise. It is also associated with disorder, including the positive disorder which leads to change and new life. When the first Emperor of China
In Japan, black is associated with mystery, the night, the unknown, the supernatural, the invisible and death. Combined with white, it can symbolize intuition.[60] In 10th and 11th century Japan, it was believed that wearing black could bring misfortune. It was worn at court by those who wanted to set themselves apart from the established powers or who had renounced material possessions.[61]
In Japan black can also symbolize experience, as opposed to white, which symbolizes naiveté. The black belt in martial arts symbolizes experience, while a white belt is worn by novices.[62] Japanese men traditionally wear a black kimono with some white decoration on their wedding day.
Black is associated with depth in Indonesia, as well as the subterranean world, demons, disaster, and the left hand. When combined with white, however, it symbolizes harmony and equilibrium.[63]
Political movements
Anarchism
Anarchism is a political philosophy, most popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which holds that governments and capitalism are harmful and undesirable. The symbols of anarchism was usually either a black flag or a black letter A. More recently it is usually represented with a bisected red and black flag, to emphasise the movement's socialist roots in the First International. Anarchism was most popular in Spain, France, Italy, Ukraine and Argentina. There were also small but influential movements in the United States, Russia and many other countries all around the world.[64]
Fascism
The
Inspired by the black uniforms of the Arditi, Italy's elite storm troops of World War I, the Fascist Blackshirts were organized by Benito Mussolini as the military tool of his political movement.[65] They used violence and intimidation against Mussolini's opponents. The emblem of the Italian fascists was a black flag with fasces, an axe in a bundle of sticks, an ancient Roman symbol of authority. Mussolini came to power in 1922 through his March on Rome with the blackshirts.
Black was also adopted by
The Nazis used a
Black shirts were also worn by the British Union of Fascists before World War II, and members of fascist movements in the Netherlands.[69]
Patriotic resistance
The
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A flag used by the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine during the Russian Civil War. It says, "Power begets parasites. Long live Anarchy!"
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blackshirt followers during his March on Romein 1922.
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Black uniform ofSS, the military wing of the Nazi Party(1938).
Military
Black has been a traditional color of cavalry and armoured or mechanized troops. German armoured troops (Panzerwaffe) traditionally wore black uniforms, and even in others, a black beret is common. In Finland, black is the symbolic color for both armoured troops and combat engineers, and military units of these specialities have black flags and unit insignia.
The
The silver-on-black skull and crossbones symbol or
Religion
In Christian theology, black was the color of the universe before God created light. In many religious cultures, from Mesoamerica to Oceania to India and Japan, the world was created out of a primordial darkness.[71] In the Bible the light of faith and Christianity is often contrasted with the darkness of ignorance and paganism.
In Christianity, the
Priests and pastors of the Roman Catholic,
- In .
- In Hinduism, the goddess Kali, goddess of time and change, is portrayed with black or dark blue skin. wearing a necklace adorned with severed heads and hands. Her name means "The black one". She destroys anger and passion according to Hindu mythology and her devotees are supposed to abstain from meat or intoxication.[74][75][76] Kali does not eat meat, but it is the śāstra's injunction that those who are unable to give up meat-eating, they may sacrifice one goat, not cow, one small animal before the goddess Kali, on amāvāsya (new moon) day, night, not day, and they can eat it.
- In Paganism, black represents dignity, force, stability, and protection. The color is often used to banish and release negative energies,[77] or binding. An athame is a ceremonial blade often having a black handle, which is used in some forms of witchcraft.[78]
Sports
- The national Kiwis(rugby league).
- Association football (soccer) referees traditionally wear all-black uniforms, however nowadays other uniform colors may also be worn.
- In auto racing, a black flag signals a driver to go into the pits.
- In baseball, "the black" refers to the batter's eye, a blacked out area around the center-field bleachers, painted black to give hitters a decent background for pitched balls.
- A large number of teams have uniforms designed with black colors even when the team does not normally feature that color. Many feel the color sometimes imparts a psychological advantage in its wearers. Black is used by numerous professional and collegiate sportsteams
Idioms and expressions
- In general, the Negro race of African origin is called "Black", while the Caucasian race of European origin is called "White".
- In the United States, "Thanksgiving Day, the fourth Thursday in November) is traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year. Many Americans are on holiday because of Thanksgiving, and many retailers open earlier and close later than normal, and offer special prices. The day's name originated in Philadelphia sometime before 1961, and originally was used to describe the heavy and disruptive downtown pedestrian and vehicle traffic which would occur on that day.[79][80] Later an alternative explanation began to be offered: that "Black Friday" indicates the point in the year that retailers begin to turn a profit, or are "in the black", because of the large volume of sales on that day.[79][81]
- "In the black" means profitable. Accountants originally used black ink in ledgers to indicate profit, and red ink to indicate a loss.
- Black Friday also refers to any particularly disastrous day on financial markets. The first Black Friday (1869), September 24, 1869, was caused by the efforts of two speculators, Jay Gould and James Fisk, to corner the gold market on the New York Gold Exchange.
- A blacklistis a list of undesirable persons or entities (to be placed on the list is to be "blacklisted").
- black humour.
- A black mark against a person relates to something bad they have done.
- A black mood is a bad one (cf Winston Churchill's clinical depression, which he called "my black dog").[82]
- Black market is used to denote the trade of illegal goods, or alternatively the illegal trade of otherwise legal items at considerably higher prices, e.g. to evade rationing.
- Black propaganda is the use of known falsehoods, partial truths, or masquerades in propaganda to confuse an opponent.
- Blackmail is the act of threatening someone to do something that would hurt them in some way, such as by revealing sensitive information about them, in order to force the threatened party to fulfill certain demands. Ordinarily, such a threat is illegal.
- If the black eight-ball, in billiards, is sunk before all others are out of play, the player loses.
- The black sheep of the family is the ne'er-do-well.
- To blackball someone is to block their entry into a club or some such institution. In the traditional English gentlemen's club, members vote on the admission of a candidate by secretly placing a white or black ball in a hat. If upon the completion of voting, there was even one black ball amongst the white, the candidate would be denied membership, and he would never know who had "blackballed" him.
- Black tea in the Western culture is known as "crimson tea" in Chinese and culturally influenced languages (紅 茶, Mandarin Chinese hóngchá; Japanese kōcha; Korean hongcha).
- "The black" is a wildfire suppression term referring to a burned area on a wildfire capable of acting as a safety zone.
- Black coffee refers to coffee without sugar or cream.
Associations and symbolism
Mourning
In the West, black is commonly associated with mourning and bereavement,[83][6] and usually worn at funerals and memorial services. In some traditional societies, for example in Greece and Italy, some widows wear black for the rest of their lives. In contrast, across much of Africa and parts of Asia like Vietnam, white is a color of mourning.
In Victorian England, the colors and fabrics of mourning were specified in an unofficial
A "black day" (or week or month) usually refers to tragic date. The
In the financial world, the term often refers to a dramatic drop in the stock market. For example, the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the stock market crash on October 29, 1929, which marked the start of the Great Depression, is nicknamed Black Tuesday, and was preceded by Black Thursday, a downturn on October 24 the previous week.
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The Dowager Electress of Palatinate in mourning (1717)
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Emperor Pedro II of Brazil and his sisters wearing mourning clothes due to their father's death (1834)
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Queen Victoria wore black in mourning for her husband Prince Albert (1899)
Darkness and evil
In western popular culture, black has long been associated with evil and darkness. It is the traditional color of witchcraft and black magic.[6]
In the
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Power, authority and solemnity
Black is frequently used as a color of power, law and authority. In many countries judges and magistrates wear black robes. That custom began in Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries. Jurists, magistrates and certain other court officials in France began to wear long black robes during the reign of
Until the 20th century most police uniforms were black, until they were largely replaced by a less menacing blue in France, the U.S. and other countries. In the United States, police cars are frequently
Black today is the most common color for limousines and the official cars of government officials.
Black formal attire is still worn at many solemn occasions or ceremonies, from graduations to formal balls. Graduation gowns are copied from the gowns worn by university professors in the Middle Ages, which in turn were copied from the robes worn by judges and priests, who often taught at the early universities. The
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TheUnited States Supreme Court(2009)
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Judges at the International Court of Justice in the Hague
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ABlack and white police car of the Los Angeles Police Department
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American academic dress for a bachelor's degree
Functionality
In the 19th and 20th centuries, many machines and devices, large and small, were painted black, to stress their functionality. These included telephones, sewing machines, steamships, railroad locomotives, and automobiles. The Ford Model T, the first mass-produced car, was available only in black from 1914 to 1926. Of means of transportation, only airplanes were rarely ever painted black.[87]
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Olivetti telephone from the 1940s
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A 1920 Ford Model T
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The first model BlackBerry (2000)
Black house paint is becoming more popular with Sherwin-Williams reporting that the color, Tricorn Black, was the 6th most popular exterior house paint color in Canada and the 12th most popular paint in the United States in 2018.[88]
Ethnography
- The term "black" is often used in the West to describe people whose skin is darker. In the United States, it is particularly used to describe United States Census, taken every ten years.
- In the first U.S. Census, taken in 1790, just four categories were used: Free White males, Free White females, other free persons, and slaves.
- In the 1820 census the new category "colored" was added.
- In the 1850 census, slaves were listed by owner, and a B indicated black, while an M indicated "mulatto".
- In the 1890 census, the categories for race were white, black, mulatto, octoroon(a person one-eighth black), Chinese, Japanese, or American Indian.
- In the 1930 census, anyone with any black blood was supposed to be listed as "Negro".
- In the 1970 census, the category "Negro or black" was used for the first time.
- In the 2000 and 2012 census, the category "Black or African-American" was used, defined as "a person having their origin in any of the racial groups in Africa." In the 2012 Census 12.1 percent of Americans identified themselves as Black or African-American.[89]
Black is also commonly used as a racial description in the United Kingdom, since ethnicity was first measured in the 2001 census. The 2011 British census asked residents to describe themselves, and categories offered included Black, African, Caribbean, or Black British. Other possible categories were African British, African Scottish, Caribbean British and Caribbean Scottish. Of the total UK population in 2001, 1.0 percent identified themselves as Black Caribbean, 0.8 percent as Black African, and 0.2 percent as Black (others).[90]
In Canada, census respondents can identify themselves as Black. In the 2006 census, 2.5 percent of the population identified themselves as black.[91]
In Australia, the term black is not used in the census. In the 2006 census, 2.3 percent of Australians identified themselves as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islanders.
In Brazil, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) asks people to identify themselves as branco (white), pardo (brown), preto (black), or amarelo (yellow). In 2008 6.8 percent of the population identified themselves as "preto".[92]
Opposite of white
- Black and white have often been used to describe opposites; particularly light and darkness and good and evil. In westerns, the hero often wore a white hat, the villain a black hat.
- In the original game of New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, has red and green pieces. But when the game was imported into Europe, the colors, corresponding to European culture, usually became black and white.
- Studies have shown that something printed in black letters on white has more authority with readers than any other color of printing.
- In philosophy and arguments, the issue is often described as black-and-white, meaning that the issue at hand is dichotomized (having two clear, opposing sides with no middle ground).
Conspiracy
Black is commonly associated with secrecy.
- The Napoleon I. The Habsburg Empire and Dutch Republichad similar black chambers.
- The United States created a secret peacetime Henry Stimson, stated that "Gentlemen do not read each other's mail." The Cipher Bureau was the ancestor of the U.S. National Security Agency.[93]
- A black project is a secret unacknowledged military project, such as Enigma Decryption during World War II, or a secret counter-narcotics or police sting operation.
- Black opsare covert operations carried out by a government, government agency or military.
- A black budget is a government budget that is allocated for classified or other secret operations of a nation. The black budget is an account expenses and spending related to military research and covert operations. The black budget is mostly classified due to security reasons.
Elegant fashion
Black is the color most commonly associated with elegance in Europe and the United States, followed by silver, gold, and white.[94]
Black first became a fashionable color for men in Europe in the 17th century, in the courts of Italy and Spain. (See history above.) In the 19th century, it was the fashion for men both in business and for evening wear, in the form of a black coat whose tails came down the knees. In the evening it was the custom of the men to leave the women after dinner to go to a special smoking room to enjoy cigars or cigarettes. This meant that their tailcoats eventually smelled of tobacco. According to the legend, in 1865
For women's fashion, the defining moment was the invention of the simple black dress by Coco Chanel in 1926. (See history.) Thereafter, a long black gown was used for formal occasions, while the simple black dress could be used for everything else. The designer Karl Lagerfeld, explaining why black was so popular, said: "Black is the color that goes with everything. If you're wearing black, you're on sure ground."[94] Skirts have gone up and down and fashions have changed, but the black dress has not lost its position as the essential element of a woman's wardrobe. The fashion designer Christian Dior said, "elegance is a combination of distinction, naturalness, care and simplicity,"[94] and black exemplified elegance.
The expression "X is the new black" is a reference to the latest trend or fad that is considered a wardrobe basic for the duration of the trend, on the basis that black is always fashionable. The phrase has taken on a life of its own and has become a cliché.
Many performers of both popular and
-
A little black dress from 1964
-
The Duke of Windsor was the first to wear midnight blue rather than black evening dress, which looked blacker than black in artificial light.
-
French singerEdith Piafalways wore black on stage.
-
Country-western singer Johnny Cash called himself "the man in black". Image of his performance in Bremen, Northern Germany, in September 1972.
-
Model Fabiana Semprebom at New York Fashion Week, 2006
See also
- Black Rose (disambiguation)
- Lists of colors
- Rich black, which is different from using black ink alone, in printing.
- Shades of black
References
Notes and citations
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- ^ "Definition of achromatic". Free Dictionary. Archived from the original on August 17, 2015. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
- ^ a b c Eva Heller, Psychologie de la couleur – effets et symboliques, pp. 105–26.
- ^ St. Clair 2016, p. 262.
- ISBN 978-0-500-05120-7.
- ^ a b c St. Clair 2016, p. 261.
- ^ Eva Heller (2000) Psychologie de la couleur – effets et symboliques, pp. 105–27.
- ^ a b Eva Heller, Psychologie de la couleur – effets et symboliques, p. 126.
- ^ a b c Jennifer, Chu (September 12, 2019). "MIT engineers develop "blackest black" material to date". MIT News Office. Archived from the original on August 4, 2020. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
- ^ a b c d Michel Pastoureau, Noir – Histoire d'une couleur, p. 34.
- ^ "African nation, named for the river Niger, mentioned by that name 1520s (Leo Africanus), probably an alteration (by influence of Latin niger "black") of a local Tuareg name, egereou n-igereouen, from egereou "big river, sea" + n-igereouen, plural of that word. Translated in Arabic as nahr al-anhur "river of rivers." (Online Etymological Dictionary)
- ISBN 0-486-44052-4. Archivedfrom the original on January 10, 2021. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
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- ^ Stefano Zuffi, Color in Art, p. 270.
- ISBN 978-1-315-67888-7.
- ^ Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, New York: World Publishing Company (1964).
- ^ Michel Pastoureau, Noir – Histoire d'une couleur, pp. 34–45.
- ^ Stefano Zuffi, Color in Art, p. 272.
- ^ Michel Pastoureau, Noir – Histoire d'une couleur, p. 80.
- ^ Michel Pastoureau, Noir – Histoire d'une couleur, pp. 86–90.
- ^ Michel Pastoureau, Noir – Histoire d'une couleur, pp. 93–130.
- ^ Michel Pastoureau, Noir – Histoire d'une couleur, pp. 121–25.
- ^ Michel Pastoureau, Noir – Histoire d'une couleur, pp. 146–47.
- ^ Michel Pastoureau, Noir – Histoire d'une couleur, pp. 152–53.
- ^ Michel Pastoureau, Noir – Histoire d'une couleur, pp. 150–51
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- ^ Eva Heller, Psychologie de la couleur – effets et symboliques, p. 107.
- ^ St. Clair 2016, p. 263.
- ^ Cited in Stefano Zuffi, Color in Art, p. 306.
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- ^ a b c Eva Heller, Psychologie de la Couleur – effets et symboliques, p. 120.
- ^ The Palm Beach Post, 24 December 1929 – pictures and caption 'That's the black art of being Chic' Archived February 10, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
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- ^ a b Anne Varichon, Couleurs – pigments et teintures dans les mains des peuples, p. 256.
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- ISBN 0-691-09560-4.
- ^ Michel Pastoureau (2008), Noir – Histoire d'une couleur, pp. 112–13.
- ^ "Haematoxylum campechianum". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
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- ^ "A Murder of Crows". Nature. PBS video. October 24, 2010. Archived from the original on October 29, 2012. Retrieved February 6, 2011.
New research indicates that crows are among the brightest animals in the world.
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- ^ "Japanese art & design: colour". Archived from the original on March 22, 2013. Retrieved 2013-03-12. Exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum on color in Japanese art and design
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- ^ Bosworth, R. J. B, Mussolini's Italy: Life Under the Fascist Dictatorship, 1915–1945, Penguin Books, 2005, p. 117.
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- ^ Eva Heller (2000) Psychologie de la Couleur – effets et symboliques, pp. 124–25.
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- ^ a b Ben Zimmer, The Origins of "Black Friday," Archived January 29, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Word Routes (November 25, 2011).
- ^ Martin L. Apfelbaum, Philadelphia's "Black Friday," Archived October 13, 2008, at the Wayback Machine American Philatelist, vol. 69, no. 4, p. 239 (January 1966).
- ^ Kevin Drum (November 26, 2010). "Black Friday". Archived from the original on January 30, 2011. Retrieved November 23, 2012.
- ^ Haralson, Hal. "Dancing with the Black Dog". christianethicstoday.com. Archived from the original on November 7, 2006. Retrieved November 10, 2006.
- ^ Eva Heller, Psychologie de la couleur – effets et symboliques, p. 109. In the survey cited, 80 percent of respondents said black was the color of mourning.
- ^ Patricia Jalland, Death in the Victorian Family, p. 300.
- ^ Revelation 6:5
- ^ Michel Pastoureau, Noir – histoire d'une couleur, pp. 114–15.
- ^ Eva Heller, Psychologie de la couleur – effets et symboliques, p. 226.
- ^ Fenton, Laura (August 1, 2018). "Black is the new black". Curbed. Archived from the original on August 7, 2018. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
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Bibliography
- Pastoureau, Michael (2008). Black: The History of a Color. Princeton University Press. p. 216. ISBN 978-0691139302.
- Heller, Eva (2009). Psychologie de la couleur – Effets et symboliques. Pyramyd (French translation). ISBN 978-2-35017-156-2.
- Zuffi, Stefano (2012). Color in Art. Abrams. ISBN 978-1-4197-0111-5.
- Gage, John (2009). La Couleur dans l'art. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-2-87811-325-9.
- Flam, Jack (1995). Matisse on Art. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-20037-3.
- Cranshaw, Whitney (2004). Garden Insects of North America. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-09560-4.
- Gottsegen, Mark (2006). The Painter's Handbook: A Complete Reference. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications. ISBN 0-8230-3496-8.
- Varichon, Anne (2000). Couleurs – pigments et teintures dans les mains des peuples. Paris: Editions du Seuil. ISBN 978-2-02-084697-4.
- ISBN 9780198208327.
- Broecke, Lara (2015). Cennino Cennini's Il Libro dell'Arte: a New English Translation and Commentary with Italian Transcription. Archetype. ISBN 978-1-909492-28-8.
- St. Clair, Kassia (2016). The Secret Lives of Colour. London: John Murray. OCLC 936144129.