I have long been fascinated with the science, history and psychology of colour. It's something that plays a huge part in all our lives. So I thought it would be nice to share my fascination with you! 

I hope you enjoy reading, and if you like what you see, please give it a share. :-)

black:  "I've been forty years discovering that the queen of all colours is black!”

-  Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French Impressionist painter, 1841-1919

black: wavelength: N/A - since black is the absence of light, it has no wavelength

Black is a curious colour in that it's an "all or nothing" colour, at least in terms of physics, it's not a colour at all, and is, in fact, an absence of light, but in art, it is a saturation of all of the other colours. 

Despite black being an absence of colour, the history of black has been far more colourful.

A brief history of black

Black was one of the first pigments used in our prehistory. Our Palaeolithic ancestors used black charcoal, burned bone and iron minerals to create the first pigments to be daubed on cave walls more than 17000 years ago. 

The ancient Egyptians used black pigments

as paints for their walls, as well as their eyes. The Egyptians believed that the pigments used as eye-liner, held magical powers, were blessed by the god Rah and Horus and helped to protect them against certain diseases. These pigments were made of a multitude

of ingredients, but the main ingredient being lead, which has its downsides, namely lethal poisoning! However, there is some more recent evidence gained from samples of Ancient Egyptian makeup, held by the Louvre museum in Paris, that there may have been some truth in this belief. It's been found that some of the pigments contained high levels of Nitric Oxide, which is known to help boost the immune system and fight disease. The use of black pigment as eyeliner for women is still popular all over the world now, but in the Middle East, applying black eyeliner is still seen as very much a masculine and spiritual thing to do. The eyeliner used in the Middle East is known as Kohl, it's often been used as spiritual protection. In Taliban run Kabul, you can often see the Islamic fundamentalist soldiers wearing black eyeliner, as it's a symbol of having Allah's protection. In 1626, Francis Bacon noted that "The Turks have a black powder made from a mineral called Alcohole, which they lay under their eyelid using a long thin pencil" After seeing the purity of this dark grey/black powder, they associated it with something else that was refined and purified, and had found a name for the "bane of Islam" Alcohol. The black eye-liner even gets a mention in the Kama-Sutra, as a type of magic applied by men to the eyes to seduce a lover!

In the seventeenth century, the puritans developed a taste for black clothes, but the creation of black dye is somewhat complex, and much of the previous dyes used were expensive and hard to make water-soluble. It is, therefore, ironic that the development of a suitable dye for these god-fearing folk, was to come from the labour of retired pirates. In the Caribbean at the height of the golden age of piracy, the old men who had hung up their Jolly Rogers would find it hard to make ends meet, so to ensure they kept an income coming in, they often worked as logwood men. Logwood is used by the dying industry to create a black dye. It's made from the heart of the Haematoxylum campechianum tree which when cut turns a dark black. The work is hard and unpleasant, as the trees tend to grow in mangrove swamps, in what is now called the Mosquito Coast, so it attracted only the rough and ready types. The work was well paid in rum and enough coin to keep the local brothels busy!

According to legend, the first paint was black, and the first artist was a woman. From accounts by Pliny the Elder, This early artist was from the town of Corinth in Greece. One evening she was crying and saying goodbye to her lover, who was off to war. She noticed that his shadow was cast upon the wall by the light of a candle. She quickly grabbed a piece of charcoal and filled in the shadow, creating a mural of his image, probably in an attempt to keep her company during his absence.

Black's association with the dark and evil parts of our world probably stems from its Latin name, Ater, which is associated with evil and cruelty. We use the words “Atrocious” and “atrocity" which are derived from the word for black, to describe terrible, evil and violent events. In art, the imagery of the Devil in Medieval paintings was usually painted in black to confirm his nature and his link to darkness.

Maybe it's our fear of the unknown or the dark and all that lurks within it, that makes us view black in such a negative light, with terms like "Black magic" and "black heart" all holding negative connotations. It seems our fascination with this colour of the "underworld" won't be fading any time soon.oon.

The psychology of black, and using it in business

In colour psychology, black has a whole range of uses. It's seen as a colour of luxury and power, of sophistication, class, expense, elegance, formality and intrigue. It can also be a colour of luck. 

Black can be a positive colour, as it can be used with a wide range of other colours of the spectrum. It is a clothing colour that's universally loved, probably due in part to its ability to shrink the space around it, making the wearer appear slimmer than they are, also due to its versatility. In spirituality, black is a welcome colour as it's one of protection and grounding, it's an absorber of light and energy of all kinds and as such, is often used in spiritual cleansing ceremonies and rituals to banish bad vibes. 

It does have its obvious associations with mourning, at least in our Western culture, but in Chinese culture, black is highly regarded as the "King of colours" and in the iChing is even called the "Heavenly Colour".

Black is a colour of balance, too much and it can lead to feelings of depression and despair, but it can also be the colour that holds the whole look together, so it should be used with care.

Colour can be used to achieve some amazing results for your business. If you would like us to look at your brand, or see how we can use colour to create powerful branding for you, get in touch.

I hope you enjoyed reading. Please look out for our next post in the "Magic Of Colour" series. If you like what you've read here, please feel free to share on social media.

Thanks for taking the time to read our blog. :-)


Shaun Pritchard - Owntwo Creative