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
Would you swim with me? XVI
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 52.5 x 70 x 0.1 cm Photography - 20.7 x 27.6 x 0 inch
$213
No40 SPIRIT Series
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 120 x 3 cm Photography - 47.2 x 47.2 x 1.2 inch
$5,886
Angel IX
Laurence Winram
Photography - 84.1 x 59.4 x 0.2 cm Photography - 33.1 x 23.4 x 0.1 inch
$636
Nikita III
Laurence Winram
Photography - 84.1 x 59.4 x 0.2 cm Photography - 33.1 x 23.4 x 0.1 inch
$636
Série Backstage - F0597 – The alien
Idan Wizen
Photography - 30 x 20 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 7.9 x 0 inch
$168
Photographie "Arche"
Franck Leclerc
Photography - 40 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$774
Matthew Barney rehearsing Drawing Restraint 7, NYC. Diptych
Michael James O'Brien
Photography - 43.2 x 61 x 0.3 cm Photography - 17 x 24 x 0.1 inch
$4,000
Dancing class
Cheraine Collette
Photography - 67 x 100 x 3 cm Photography - 26.4 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
$3,363
Nude elephant dust
Cheraine Collette
Photography - 80 x 90 x 2 cm Photography - 31.5 x 35.4 x 0.8 inch
$5,045
Georgianna
Thierry Le Gouès
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$4,709
Georgianna
Thierry Le Gouès
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$4,709
Sisyphe (Islande)
Vincent Citot
Photography - 40 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$841
De la Série 'Blanc et Noir'
Carlos Antonio Sablon Perez
Painting - 80 x 60 x 4 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 1.6 inch
$6,727
Détente en famille
Jean-Louis Toutain
Sculpture - 30 x 68 x 38 cm Sculpture - 11.8 x 26.8 x 15 inch
$20,180
Flowering
Rossella Mercedes
Fine Art Drawings - 30 x 24 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.8 x 9.4 x 0 inch
$146
Act 11 | Best hotel in town
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 80 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$280
Act 10 | A glass of champagne
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 80 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$280
Act 8 | Peak Climax - all tricks allowed
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 80 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$280
Act 7 | The things we would do for an espresso
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 80 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$280
Act 6 | Home office
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 80 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$280
Act 5 | S-extremely thirsty
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 80 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$280
Act 4 | It all came out in the wash
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 80 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$280
Act 12 | Boarding complete
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 80 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$280
In Silk We Trust!
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 56 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 22 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$213
According to Francis Bacon
Jean-Claude Byandb
Photography - 50 x 50 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
$549
Would you swim with me? XV
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 52.5 x 70 x 0.1 cm Photography - 20.7 x 27.6 x 0 inch
$213
Would you swim with me? XIV
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 52.5 x 70 x 0.1 cm Photography - 20.7 x 27.6 x 0 inch
$213
1915 Le bustier de NINA
Eugène Druet
Photography - 43 x 54 x 0.5 cm Photography - 16.9 x 21.3 x 0.2 inch
$3,307
1915 Rêveuse LOU dreaming
Eugène Druet
Photography - 54 x 43 cm Photography - 21.3 x 16.9 inch
$3,307
1915 La Joueuse de cartes Cards player Lady
Eugène Druet
Photography - 43 x 54 cm Photography - 16.9 x 21.3 inch
$3,868
1915 Lascive LEA Lascivious
Eugène Druet
Photography - 43 x 53 cm Photography - 16.9 x 20.9 inch
$4,428
1915 Nue au perroquet Nude with parrot
Eugène Druet
Photography - 43 x 54 cm Photography - 16.9 x 21.3 inch
$5,549
Naïade
Gino Charpentier
Fine Art Drawings - 65 x 50 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 25.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$448
Reflets dans l’eau
Gino Charpentier
Fine Art Drawings - 65 x 50 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 25.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$448
Jambe en l’air
Gino Charpentier
Fine Art Drawings - 65 x 50 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 25.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$448
Aphrodite
Gino Charpentier
Fine Art Drawings - 65 x 50 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 25.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$448
More Sketches of Spain - for Miles Davis
George Condo
Print - 130 x 97 cm Print - 51.2 x 38.2 inch
$7,287
Black Beauty
Klaus Roethlisberger
Photography - 70 x 52 x 0.2 cm Photography - 27.6 x 20.5 x 0.1 inch
$605
Patrick Dupond
Klaus Roethlisberger
Photography - 70 x 57 x 0.2 cm Photography - 27.6 x 22.4 x 0.1 inch
$1,345
Strippers in a Club, Atlanta, Georgia
Leonard Freed
Photography - 27.9 x 35.6 cm Photography - 11 x 14 inch
$5,000
Tropical Bath
Thomas Louvagny
Photography - 60 x 45 x 3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 17.7 x 1.2 inch
$729
Around the corner
Thomas Louvagny
Photography - 60 x 45 x 3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 17.7 x 1.2 inch
$729
Les Femmes au Pouvoir
Thomas Louvagny
Photography - 60 x 45 x 3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 17.7 x 1.2 inch
$729
Divadlo na Prádle
Lukas Dvorak
Photography - 61 x 81.3 x 0.3 cm Photography - 24 x 32 x 0.1 inch
$1,800
Untitled- One of a kind pencil and gold paint figure drawing on paper
Juan C. Estrada
Fine Art Drawings - 99.1 x 67.3 cm Fine Art Drawings - 39 x 26.5 inch
$1,200
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!