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, N° 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"