Karl Jones at 11:42, 30 March 2016

2016-03-30T11:42:03Z

Karl Jones: Created page with "'''Harry Richard Black''' (October 10, 1921 – March 30, 2014) was an American commercial artist, illustrator, and portraitist. Black created the original Mr...."

2016-02-29T15:53:55Z

Created page with "'''Harry Richard Black''' (October 10, 1921 – March 30, 2014) was an American commercial artist, illustrator, and portraitist. Black created the original Mr...."

New page

'''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.

== Life and works ==

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.

He moved to Ohio after the war and opened an art studio in Dayton.

He also taught art at both the University of Dayton and Sinclair Community College on a part-time basis for years.

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.

== Mr. Clean ==

Black is best known for creating the widely recognized [[Mr. Clean]] commercial mascot.

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 -- a bald man (or genie) with a nose ring.

Black created two versions of the genie, one with a nose ring and one without the ring. Procter & Gamble decided to use Black's image without the ring as Mr. Clean.

== Landscape and portrait work ==

In addition to his commercial work, Black was also a landscape artist and a portrait painter.

In 1956, one of his landscape paintings, complete with depcitions of animals, was published in The Saturday Evening Post.

== Smokey the Bear ==

An official from the United States Department of the Interior liked the Saturday Evening Post painting.

The Interior Department soon contacted Black and asked him to illustrate a character to promote wildfire prevention, Smokey Bear.

Black kept a life-sized Smokey The Bear statue on his porch at his home in Kettering.

== Death ==

Black died at his home in Kettering, Ohio, on March 30, 2014, at the age of 92.

== See also ==

* [[Artist]]
* [[Commercial character design]]
* [[Illustrator]]
* [[Mr. Clean]]

== External links ==

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Black Richard Black] @ Wikipedia

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Richard Black - Revision history

Karl Jones at 11:42, 30 March 2016

Karl Jones: Created page with "'''Harry Richard Black''' (October 10, 1921 – March 30, 2014) was an American commercial artist, illustrator, and portraitist. Black created the original Mr...."