Black and white
Save your search and find it in your favorites
Save your search to find it quickly
Saved search
Your search is accessible from the favorites tab > My favorite searches
Unsaved search
A problem occurred
Untitled XXIV. From the Series Chiromorphose
Nico Baixas / Gos-com-fuig
Photography - 49.8 x 49.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.6 x 19.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,250
Untitled XXIII. From the Series Chiromorphose
Nico Baixas / Gos-com-fuig
Photography - 49.8 x 49.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.6 x 19.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,250
Untitled XIV. From the series Chiromorphose
Nico Baixas / Gos-com-fuig
Photography - 49.8 x 49.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.6 x 19.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,250
Untitled XI. From the series Chiromorphose
Nico Baixas / Gos-com-fuig
Photography - 49.8 x 49.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.6 x 19.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,250
Untitled XIII From the series chiromorphose
Nico Baixas / Gos-com-fuig
Photography - 49.8 x 49.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.6 x 19.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,250
Memories IV
Victoria Dearing
Photography - 27.5 x 44.5 x 0.3 cm Photography - 10.8 x 17.5 x 0.1 inch
$561 $448
Memories III
Victoria Dearing
Photography - 27.5 x 44.5 x 0.3 cm Photography - 10.8 x 17.5 x 0.1 inch
$561
Untitled XXXVIII From the Series Chiromorphose
Nico Baixas / Gos-com-fuig
Photography - 49.8 x 49.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.6 x 19.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,250
Untitled XXXVI. From the Series Chiromorphose
Nico Baixas / Gos-com-fuig
Photography - 49.8 x 49.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.6 x 19.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,250
Untitled XXXV. From the series chiromorphose
Nico Baixas / Gos-com-fuig
Photography - 49.8 x 49.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.6 x 19.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,250
Untitled XXXI. From the Series Chiromorphose
Nico Baixas / Gos-com-fuig
Photography - 49.8 x 49.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.6 x 19.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,250
Untitled XXVIII. From the series chiromorph
Nico Baixas / Gos-com-fuig
Photography - 49.8 x 49.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.6 x 19.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,250
Untitled XXII. From the series chiromorph
Nico Baixas / Gos-com-fuig
Photography - 49.8 x 49.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.6 x 19.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,250
Untitled XII. From the series chiromorphose
Nico Baixas / Gos-com-fuig
Photography - 49.8 x 49.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.6 x 19.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,250
Untitled XVI. From the series chiromorphose
Nico Baixas / Gos-com-fuig
Photography - 49.8 x 49.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.6 x 19.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,250
Untitled X. From the series chiromorphose
Nico Baixas / Gos-com-fuig
Photography - 49.8 x 49.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.6 x 19.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,250
Droit dans les yeux
Valentin Pacaut
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
$953
Untitled IX. From the series chiromorphose
Nico Baixas / Gos-com-fuig
Photography - 49.8 x 49.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.6 x 19.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,250
Untitled VIII. From the series chiromorphose
Nico Baixas / Gos-com-fuig
Photography - 49.8 x 49.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.6 x 19.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,250
Untitled VII. From the series chiromorphose
Nico Baixas / Gos-com-fuig
Photography - 49.8 x 49.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.6 x 19.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,250
Migration de zèbres
Valentin Pacaut
Photography - 50 x 75 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.7 x 29.5 x 0.1 inch
$1,121
Untitled IV. From the Series Chiromorphose
Nico Baixas / Gos-com-fuig
Photography - 49.8 x 49.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.6 x 19.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,250
Grandma divers XVII
Alain Schroeder
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$2,803
Tokyo pic nic I
Motohiko Hasui
Photography - 45.5 x 56 x 0.3 cm Photography - 17.9 x 22 x 0.1 inch
$561
La fin de l'hiver
Edouard Mazaré
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$1,401
The infinite breath of Utopia #Gold
Thomas Mainardi
Print - 70 x 50 cm Print - 27.6 x 19.7 inch
$729
Garçon cuisine
Emmanuelle Barbaras
Photography - 30 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$785
Homme intérieur
Emmanuelle Barbaras
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.2 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
$785
Saleuse
Emmanuelle Barbaras
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.2 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
$785
Enfants qui lisent
Emmanuelle Barbaras
Photography - 30 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$785
Homme qui fume
Emmanuelle Barbaras
Photography - 30 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$785
Teinturières
Emmanuelle Barbaras
Photography - 40 x 50 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
$785
La mécanicienne
Emmanuelle Barbaras
Photography - 28 x 43 x 1 cm Photography - 11 x 16.9 x 0.4 inch
$785
Act 9 | Hello? We need a doctor
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 80 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$280
Eye in the dark
Norman Reedus
Photography - 20.32 x 25.4 x 1 cm Photography - 8 x 10 x 0.4 inch
$1,682
Jeux d'enfants à Mongo, Tchad
José Nicolas
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$448
Man with Black Sand
Ricky Cohete
Photography - 91.4 x 61 x 0.3 cm Photography - 36 x 24 x 0.1 inch
$2,222
Sans titre
Julien Drogoul
Photography - 90 x 60 x 0.3 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,009
The Golden Lane
Kirill Postovit
Fine Art Drawings - 18 x 13 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 7.1 x 5.1 x 0 inch
$191
Femmes en exil
Marie Dorigny
Photography - 45 x 65 x 0.1 cm Photography - 17.7 x 25.6 x 0 inch
$1,345
Hombre en mascara
Ricky Cohete
Photography - 76.2 x 50.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 30 x 20 x 0.1 inch
$2,222
Toni Garrn, Portrait Intervened by the artists.
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 187.9 x 132 x 3 cm Photography - 74 x 52 x 1.2 inch
$7,500
Miguel y la Rosa Two
Ricky Cohete
Photography - 91.4 x 61 x 0.3 cm Photography - 36 x 24 x 0.1 inch
$4,000
Ragazzo veneziano
Yves Bordes Lapeyre
Photography - 60 x 90 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0.4 inch
$605
Brainstorming Trees
Gonçalo Martins
Photography - 29 x 29 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.4 x 11.4 x 0 inch
$179
Muguet-racine
Sébastien Chauchot
Photography - 40 x 35 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 13.8 x 0.4 inch
$448
Homme noir et blanc
Pascal Marlin
Fine Art Drawings - 50 x 33 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.7 x 13 x 0 inch
$448
Robert Smith - The Cure - The Top Wet in London - Derniers tirages
Pierre Terrasson
Photography - 40 x 50 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 inch
$2,803
Fil et aiguille
Pierre Boillon
Photography - 60 x 42 x 3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 16.5 x 1.2 inch
$605
Plume et encrier
Pierre Boillon
Photography - 60 x 42 x 3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 16.5 x 1.2 inch
$605
Bouteille et verre
Pierre Boillon
Photography - 60 x 42 x 3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 16.5 x 1.2 inch
$605
Urbain brutalisme - Photographie digigraphie (1) (10)
Claire Giraudeau
Photography - 70 x 50 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 inch
$280
Urbain brutalisme - Photographie digigraphie (1) (9)
Claire Giraudeau
Photography - 70 x 50 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 inch
$280
Urbain brutalisme - Photographie digigraphie (1) (8)
Claire Giraudeau
Photography - 70 x 50 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 inch
$280
Urbain brutalisme - Photographie digigraphie (1) (1)
Claire Giraudeau
Photography - 70 x 50 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 inch
$280
Black and white
Before the arrival of photography – with the exception of some etchings and lithographs – all the images we consumed were in colour. Quite simply, because no one would ever have thought to do anything else – why paint in black and white when colour was so readily available?
Yet despite this, today many photographers still choose to work in black and white – such as Pauline Théon, Kadir Von Lohuizen or Joh Lowenstein – even though their photos are taken in colour by the camera itself. Is the black and white trend a fleeting effect of fashion, or a symbolic return to the roots of the photography movement? Black and white photography has something that colour photos, despite recent innovations and the extraordinary quality of images today, cannot quite access. The use of black and white lends significant force to the composition: the contrasts, the shadows and the figures all stand out more strongly. People simply feel differently when faced with a colour photo versus a black and white image.
Colour is a distraction of sorts, a disturbance: colour is a nuisance.
And yet, some photographers still prefer colour to black and white, whilst others merge touches of colour with otherwise monochrome compositions. But in the end, all agree that both styles impose a totally different way of looking at a photo: from researching the shot to post production work, when artists develop or retouch the image. The use of colour is therefore something of a process in its own right, relating to two different ways of viewing the world and showing it others. The question, then, is what is being told, and why is it being in the way that it is?
The symbolic value of putting black and white together is a good starting point for reflecting on the fascination that they generate even today. There could not be a more fascinating, more striking ambivalence than when black, the 'colour' of darkness and burnt coal, considered a non-colour, is placed alongside white – representing light, and the result of all the colours merged together.
The problem faced by photographers today is that black and white still carry strong connotations of the past, of an era before the popularisation of colour and its massive cultural recovery amongst the press and photo journalists. In fact, it is rare now that contemporary subjects are photographed in colour, but we still associate black and white images with a retro feel.
So what does contemporary art have to say about it all? Discover Artsper's selection of black and white works: on the border of past and present, of the real and the imaginary… let us guide you!