Black pigments

Description

Black is a color defined as the total absorption of all frequencies of visible light. As such, it is the absence of reflection whereby no visible light reaches the eye. The color black is represented by the following color coordinates:

• Hex triplet: # 000000
• RGB: (0, 0, 0); CMYK (0, 0, 0, 100)
• HSV: (-°, -%, 0%)

Examples of black pigments:

• carbon (Lampblack, Carbon black, Ivory black, Vegetable black, Graphite, Charcoal, Bone black)
• oxides (black iron oxide, Mars black, Manganese black)
• synthetic organic (iron gallotannate, Nigrosine, Aniline black, Logwood)

Synonyms and Related Terms

sort (Dan.); Schwarz (Deut.); negro (Esp.); pigments noirs (Fr.); pigmenti neri (It.) niger (Lat.); zwart (Ned.); zwarte (Ned.); svart (Sven.); pigmentos negros (Port.)

Resources and Citations

• R. J. Gettens, G.L. Stout, Painting Materials, A Short Encyclopaedia, Dover Publications, New York, 1966

• Ralph Mayer, A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques, Harper and Row Publishers, New York, 1969 (also 1945 printing)

• Art and Architecture Thesaurus Online, http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/aat/, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, 2000