Black art

Black Art is a principle where anything painted black cannot be seen when placed against a black background.

Max Auzinger is credited with the discovery of Black Art around 1875, when he discovered the principle by accident while watching a black-faced actor playing a scene set in a dark dungeon. Only the man's white teeth and eyes were visible when watching from the stage.

In The Magic Wand, Vol. 5, No. 6, Feb. 1915, page 97, Charles De Vere explained in a letter to the Editor of the Magic Wand that he has seen Ben Ali Bey (Max Auzinger) presented this form of illusion in Antwerp (Belgium. Anvers in French) in 1873