Things You Never Knew About Black: 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 1914-1926.

1914 Ford Model T

Black and white have often been used to describe opposites, particularly light and darkness and good and evil. In Medieval literature, the white knight usually represented virtue, the black knight something mysterious and sinister. In American westerns, the hero often wore a white hat, the villain a black hat.

In the original game of chess invented in Persia and India, the colors of the two sides were varied ; a 12th century Iranian chess set in the 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.

12th Century Iranian Chess Set Metropolitan Museum of Art

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 two clear, opposing sides with no middle ground.

Black Friday Crow Giveaway
I'm giving away one of my black (Friday) crow prints. This is a reproduction print of an original pen-and-ink drawing. The image area for framing is 5 1/4" x 5 5/16" and is printed on an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of acid free, warm off-white paper. This is also the crow that is being used as set decoration on Charlie Sheen's TV show, Anger Management.

To Enter: Simply email me your name to: inkartist@knology.net. Please put Black Friday Crow in the subject line. I must receive your email by midnight this Friday, November 29th to be eligible. You must be 18 in order to enter.

Notification: The winner will be picked at random and will receive an email Monday morning and I will post the winner on my blog and social media sites.