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
Lou Reed Transformer
Mick Rock
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$2,234
Lou Reed And Andy Warhol
Mick Rock
Photography - 40 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$2,234
François Truffaut, Paris
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 36 x 24 x 0.3 cm Photography - 14.2 x 9.4 x 0.1 inch
$1,696
La Halle aux vins de Bercy
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.3 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
$792
Chassé-croisé à l'entrée de l'hôtel Plaza, New York
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.3 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.1 inch
$735
En bordure de Central Park, New York
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 24 x 36 x 0.3 cm Photography - 9.4 x 14.2 x 0.1 inch
$735
Le repos des bikers, Los Angeles
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.3 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
$848
Les adieux de Leningrad
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.3 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.1 inch
$848
L’Académie militaire, West Point, États-Unis, la parade finale
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.3 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.1 inch
$792
Inauguration de la chapelle Le Corbusier à Rongchamp
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.3 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
$735
Felouques sur le nil
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.3 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.1 inch
$905
Noce berrichonne, la parade dans le village
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.3 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
$848
Les Halles, Paris
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 24 x 36 x 0.3 cm Photography - 9.4 x 14.2 x 0.1 inch
$735
De l'Autre côté du mur, Berlin
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 36 x 24 x 0.3 cm Photography - 14.2 x 9.4 x 0.1 inch
$679
Isak Dinesen, baronne Blixen
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 41.5 x 28.5 x 0.3 cm Photography - 16.3 x 11.2 x 0.1 inch
$1,696
Courrèges
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 40 x 26.5 x 0.3 cm Photography - 15.7 x 10.4 x 0.1 inch
$1,131
Vérification de papiers dans le bidonville de Nanterre
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 33 x 50 x 0.3 cm Photography - 13 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$1,131
West Point: Yes Sir ! Un cadet accueille la nouvelle promotion
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 28.7 x 41.5 x 0.3 cm Photography - 11.3 x 16.3 x 0.1 inch
$1,357
Course pour le bus scolaire. MiddleWest.
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 49 x 60 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.3 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
$792
Marie Hélène chez Maxim's
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 40 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$961
Place Vendôme
Vanessa Vercel
Photography - 70 x 105 x 2 cm Photography - 27.6 x 41.3 x 0.8 inch
$1,470
Eiffel oiseaux
Vanessa Vercel
Photography - 70 x 105 x 2 cm Photography - 27.6 x 41.3 x 0.8 inch
$1,470
Birhakeim 2
Vanessa Vercel
Photography - 105 x 70 x 2 cm Photography - 41.3 x 27.6 x 0.8 inch
$1,470
Arc de triomphe
Vanessa Vercel
Photography - 70 x 105 x 2 cm Photography - 27.6 x 41.3 x 0.8 inch
$1,470
Alexandre III
Vanessa Vercel
Photography - 70 x 105 x 2 cm Photography - 27.6 x 41.3 x 0.8 inch
$1,470
Desvelando Gaudí 010
Ivanna Alejandra Sanchez Moretti
Photography - 53 x 40 cm Photography - 20.9 x 15.7 inch
$679
Desvelando Gaudí 08
Ivanna Alejandra Sanchez Moretti
Photography - 53 x 40 cm Photography - 20.9 x 15.7 inch
$679
Chilhood Mirror
Darios Tossou
Photography - 90 x 60 x 0.8 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0.3 inch
$1,527
Anonymous right
Darios Tossou
Photography - 90 x 60 x 0.8 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0.3 inch
$1,527
Anonymous Left
Darios Tossou
Photography - 90 x 60 x 0.8 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0.3 inch
$1,527
Couple II - série oiseaux
Henry Ausloos
Photography - 75 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 29.5 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$1,244
Steinerene Rinne, Wilder Kaiser, Nordwärts
Peter Neusser
Photography - 122 x 87 cm Photography - 48 x 34.3 inch
$3,619
The eye of the earth
Shulan Wang
Photography - 30 x 45 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 17.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,357
Have a soft dream with the moon
Shulan Wang
Photography - 45 x 30 x 1 cm Photography - 17.7 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
$1,131
Being and nothingness
Shulan Wang
Photography - 45 x 30 x 1 cm Photography - 17.7 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
$1,357
Steamer series 1
Margaret Neill
Fine Art Drawings - 66 x 101.6 cm Fine Art Drawings - 26 x 40 inch
$3,044
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
Alcornoque Evora, Pigment Print
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 110 x 110 x 0.3 cm Photography - 43.3 x 43.3 x 0.1 inch
$900
Reagan and the queen
Ian Bradshaw
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$1,470
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
Lévitation Effect 003
Jean-Claude Byandb
Photography - 60 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 17.7 x 0 inch
$690
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!