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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.
Contents
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
External links
- Richard Black @ Wikipedia
