Richard Black

For other people named Richard Black, see Richard Black (disambiguation).

Harry Richard Black (October 10, 1921 – March 30, 2014) was an American commercial artist, illustrator, and portraitist. Black created the original Mr. Clean mascot for Procter & Gamble's household cleaner during the 1950s.[1][2]

Richard Black was born on October 10, 1921, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[1] He enrolled at Syracuse University, but left the school to enlist in the Army Air Corps during World War II.[1] He moved to Ohio after the war and opened an art studio in Dayton.[1] He also taught art at both the University of Dayton and Sinclair Community College on a part-time basis for years.[1]

Black, who spent much of his career as a commercial artist, worked on projects for a number of companies, ranging from Frigidaire to Shell Oil. However, Black is best known for creating the widely recognized Mr. Clean commercial mascot.[1] Procter & Gamble contacted Black during the 1950s. He was tasked by P&G with creating a new mascot for a forthcoming household cleaning product, to be called Mr. Clean. Executives at Procter & Gamble described the new cleaner as being "like magic" and envisioned the new product's mascot as a genie from a bottle.[1]

Procter & Gamble wanted Black to design a bald man (or genie) with a nose ring.[1] Black created two versions of the genie, one with a nose ring and one without the ring.[1] Procter & Gamble decided to use Black's image without the ring as Mr. Clean.[1] Mr. Clean products were first released to consumers in 1958.[1] A television and radio ad campaign, utilizing Black's Mr. Clean mascot, accompanied the launch of the product line.[1] The company still uses the Mr. Clean character in its marketing, as of 2014.[1]

In addition to his commercial work, Black was also a landscape artist and a portrait painter.[1] In 1956, one of his landscape paintings, complete with depictions of animals, was published in The Saturday Evening Post.[1] An official from the United States Department of the Interior liked the painting. The Interior Department soon contacted Black and asked him to illustrate a character to promote wildfire prevention, Smokey Bear.[1] Black kept a life-sized Smokey The Bear statue on his porch at his home in Kettering.

Black died at his home in Kettering, Ohio, on March 30, 2014, at the age of 92.[1] A member of the Fairmont Presbyterian Church, he was survived by his three sons, Richard, Christopher and Timothy, and seven grandchildren. His wife, Virginia Black, died in 2003.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Slotnik, Daniel E. (2014-04-02). "Richard Black, 92, Artist Who Conjured 'Mr. Clean,' Dies". New York Times. Retrieved 2014-05-04.
  2. ↑ Robinson, Amelia (2014-04-01). "Kettering man behind "Mr. Clean" and "Smokey Bear" has died". Dayton Daily News. Retrieved 2014-05-04.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/28/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.