THE COLOUR BLACK

MEANING

The colour black represents power, strength, sophistication authority and elegance. Black provokes strong emotions and is often associated with mystery, aggression, fear and death. It is formal and serious.

Black is the absence of colour. It is a mysterious colour which can lead it to be associated with the unknown or the negative

HISTORY

Black was one of the first colours used in art. Prehistoric artists used black charcoal and iron minerals to create a black pigment that they then used to paint on cave walls. Drawings in Lascaux Caves in France were painted more than 17,000 years ago, although they were only discovered in 1940 by an 18-year-old French boy who was exploring the nearby countryside. The 2,000 Palaeolithic drawings found in the cave represent humans, abstract symbols, and animals.

The Greeks developed a highly sophisticated technique for painting black silhouettes on clay pottery. Later, they inverted the technique to paint red figures on black backgrounds. These “red figure” and “black figure” vases were signed by their makers, making them the first signed pieces of art in history.

In Latin, the word for “black”, ater, is associated with cruelty and evil. “Atrocious” and “atrocity” are derived from this Latinate stem. It is no surprise, then, that in Medieval paintings the devil was often painted in black.

The first printed book in the world, the Gutenberg Bible, featured black type on white paper because the contrast between the two colours was the easiest to read. The mass production of printed books was only possible with the invention of a new kind of printer’s ink, made by mixing soot, turpentine, and walnut oil.

Up until the 14th century, the finest cloth was dyed with red, blue, or purple dye, not black. But the arrival of high-quality black dyes and the implementation of laws restricting coloured cloth to nobility meant that wealthy Italian bankers began wearing black clothes as a sign of importance. Kings all over Europe began to take notice and soon adopted the black style themselves.

In the second part of the 17th century, Europe and America experienced an epidemic of fear of witchcraft. People widely believed that the devil appeared at midnight in a ceremony called a Black Mass or Black Sabbath, usually in the form of a black animal. This was the origin of the widespread superstition about black cats and other black animals.

Black was the colour of the industrial revolution, largely fueled by coal, and later by oil. Thanks to coal smoke, the buildings of the large cities of Europe and America gradually turned black. By 1846 the industrial area of the West Midlands of England was commonly called 'the Black Country'.

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 colour of business dress of the upper and middle classes in England, Europe, and America.

In the 20th century, black was the colour of Italian and German fascism.

The birth of the Little Black Dress has been ascribed to Coco Chanel, who, in 1927, created a series of simple black suits and dresses that were photographed in American Vogue. Audrey Hepburn’s minimalist black Givenchy dress, worn in the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s, made the style wildly popular.

Wearing black to a funeral is a longstanding tradition in many areas of the world, particularly in the United States and other Western nations. Funerals are usually sombre occasions, and wearing black indicates the mourning the loss of someone. It is also considered a sign of respect for the deceased.

In the 1950s, black came to be a symbol of individuality and intellectual and social rebellion, the colour of those who didn't accept established norms and values. Black leather jackets were worn by motorcycle gangs such as the Hells Angels and street gangs on the fringes of society in the United States. Black as a colour of rebellion was celebrated in such films as The Wild One, with Marlon Brando. By the end of the 20th century, black was the emblematic colour of punk fashion, and the goth subculture.

The American civil rights movement in the 1950s was a struggle for the political equality of African Americans. It developed into the Black Power movement in the late 1960s and 1970s and popularized the slogan "Black is Beautiful".

BLACK AND BRANDING

Black is traditionally seen as a symbol of professionalism and seriousness. A black logo is associated with elegance and luxury and is used by many upscale brands.

Black also symbolises strength and as such is associated with many sports brands.