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
Jean-Pierre Rives
Mark Leech
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$2,205
Moonrise III
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 109.2 x 91.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 43 x 36 x 0.1 inch
$2,000
Sol Mallorca
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 109.2 x 91.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 43 x 36 x 0.1 inch
$2,000
Moonrise II
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 109.2 x 91.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 43 x 36 x 0.1 inch
$2,000
Páramo Chingaza
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 110 x 91.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 43.3 x 36.2 x 0.1 inch
$2,000
Laguna Chingaza, Pigment Prints
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 110 x 91.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 43.3 x 36.2 x 0.1 inch
$2,000
Fusagasugá, Pigment Prints
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 47 x 47 x 0.3 cm Photography - 18.5 x 18.5 x 0.1 inch
$1,200
Deer Isle, Pigment Prints
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 47 x 47 x 0.3 cm Photography - 18.5 x 18.5 x 0.1 inch
$900
Conscience
Cyrille Charro
Photography - 100 x 100 x 3 cm Photography - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
$1,696
La fille du roi de Birmanie réfugiée au Siam
The opium smoking white elephant
Photography - 60 x 40 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 inch
$905
Retiro in May
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$599
Pigeon monument
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$622
Altitude 02
Hengki Koentjoro
Photography - 43 x 43 x 0.1 cm Photography - 16.9 x 16.9 x 0 inch
$1,074
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$599
Old man with new hat
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$622
Small talks II
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$599
Father and son
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
$735
If I was your girlfriend
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
$735
L'homme du passé
Tanguy Mendrisse
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
$192 $173
Sled. Photograph intervened by the artists
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 50.8 x 39.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 20 x 15.5 x 0.1 inch
$3,800
Ceremony II, Photograph intervened by the artists
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 54.6 x 44.5 x 0.3 cm Photography - 21.5 x 17.5 x 0.1 inch
$3,500
Ceremony. Photograph intervened by the artists
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 44.5 x 54.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 17.5 x 21.5 x 0.1 inch
$3,500
Reflets de Ville
Jean-Pierre Fleury
Photography - 150 x 100 cm Photography - 59.1 x 39.4 inch
$4,252
Hommage à Brassai - Portrait craché
Jean-Pierre Fleury
Photography - 100 x 100 cm Photography - 39.4 x 39.4 inch
$2,782
Cinematography inspired session #25
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 17.7 x 0 inch
$215 $162
Cinematography inspired session #3
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 45 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 17.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$215 $162
Cinematography inspired session #2
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 17.7 x 0 inch
$215 $162
11h53 - 6,09, Crue de la Seine - Paris 2016
Julie Peiffer
Photography - 50 x 50 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 inch
$803
Midday Spécial
Julie Peiffer
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.04 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$735
L'escalier. 6,09 m crue de la Seine
Julie Peiffer
Photography - 80 x 80 x 0.04 cm Photography - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$1,696
C'est super, Je t'aime
Julie Peiffer
Photography - 75 x 60 x 0.04 cm Photography - 29.5 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$848
Would you swim with me? VII
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 52.5 x 70 x 0.1 cm Photography - 20.7 x 27.6 x 0 inch
$215 $162
Terra Incognita - Icare
Guillaume Pépy
Photography - 105 x 70 cm Photography - 41.3 x 27.6 inch
$1,583
Où est Charlie ? V
Tanguy Mendrisse
Photography - 30 x 24 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 9.4 x 0 inch
$141
Dizzy Gillespie
Philippe Gras
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.3 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,074
Crop Margaret Thatcher Decorating Ironing Lady
Arthur Steel
Photography - 61 x 48 x 1 cm Photography - 24 x 18.9 x 0.4 inch
$2,064
Seascape Untitled (f66) (Identity promises series)
Imanol Marrodán
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$961
Un'isola nell'aria
Urs Lüthi
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$1,131
Un'isola nell'aria
Urs Lüthi
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$1,131
Un'isola nell'aria
Urs Lüthi
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$1,131
Un'isola nell'aria
Urs Lüthi
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$1,131
Un'isola nell'aria
Urs Lüthi
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$1,131
Un'isola nell'aria
Urs Lüthi
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$1,131
Un'isola nell'aria
Urs Lüthi
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$1,131
This place needs your attention
Christa David
Photography - 25.4 x 22.86 x 2 cm Photography - 10 x 9 x 0.8 inch
$1,355
Imagen del mundo flotante
Imanol Marrodán
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$961
Frozen trees 1
Imanol Marrodán
Photography - 39 x 50.6 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.4 x 19.9 x 0 inch
$1,244
La Gitanilla. Revelación Emporium 1947
Martí Sala
Photography - 30 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$905
Defining Shadows IV
Maureen J Haldeman
Photography - 61 x 45.7 x 0.6 cm Photography - 24 x 18 x 0.25 inch
$750
Tania Mallet In A Madame Paulette Hat
John French
Photography - 101.6 x 101.6 cm Photography - 40 x 40 inch
$1,103
Contemplum #017
Dani Garcia Sarabia
Photography - 33 x 50 x 0.03 cm Photography - 13 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$961
Abstract Desert Reflections n°308
Harry James Moody
Painting - 121.9 x 152.4 x 5.1 cm Painting - 48 x 60 x 2 inch
$11,500
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!