black art

American  

noun

1. witchcraft; magic.

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black art British  

noun

1. another name for black magic

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Etymology

Origin of black art

First recorded in 1580–90

Example Sentences

Strictly speaking, these galleries—limited by gaps in the DIA’s holdings and by space—provide only an abbreviated history of black art.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 17, 2026

While William Mariwi became a highly praised artist of religious iconography and Richard Rachidi the first qualified black art teacher in his home country, Malawi.

From BBC • Oct. 1, 2022

It is home to one of the city’s most enviable collections of 19th and 20th-century black art, at the Clark Atlanta University Art Museum.

From Washington Times • Sep. 26, 2020

One of the few black art dealers, then and now, Mr. N’Namdi opened his first gallery in Detroit in 1981 and focused on black artists working in abstraction.

From New York Times • May 3, 2020

To the physicists, the separation and purification of radioisotopes seemed a black art; but it was well within the capabilities of a graduate chemist.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik