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!

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Categories

Subcategories

Black and white

Still life II

Cherry Blossom No. 10

Le Bar Fer à Cheval

Sous le Pont

Chez Louise

La Grande Dame

Rolling Stones, NYC

Kiss, NYC

Piscine Molitor 85

Round Medusa

Stillness

Arbres d'Oléron - série Paysage de Nature insulaire

Joy

Street in Paris 5

Robert Plant (1993)

Nick Cave

David Lynch

David Gilmour

David Gilmour

Brett Anderson

Bono

Code 1956

Jet d'oiseaux sur Beaubourg

La celebracion

Douglas Booth and Aleksander Skarsgard, Diptych

Dustin Hoffman 3

Karl Largerfield soirée Kenzo

Balti XI

Untitled IV. From The Balance Series

Marilyn nineteen (1945)

L'envolée des rêves

The Skelligs by moonlight

Bagan by moonlight

Sands of the Himalaya

Waiting for Brasil

Realm of Aodh

Un jour, un instant dans le temps (MR20)

L'Arbre des Sages

Why - Red Light Version

Paris se change

Montura from the series Horses and dancers

Sled. Photograph intervened by the artists

Souvenir lointain de son parfum

El duende

Bosque Chingaza, Landscape Pigment Print photograph

Caballero, One

Man jumping our of the water, Two: From Motion Series

Man: from the Blanco series.

EM2020-20

L’Ancienne Messe

La Grand Prêtre

Où est Charlie ? V

Balade d'amoureux

The fire and the infinity #2 (from the "The fire and the infinity" series)

The fire and the infinity #1 (from the "The fire and the infinity" series)

Dieu et Mon droit

Studio sul nero

Aggrapparsi

Torsion - Limited Edition of 10 Fine Art Prints

Vision of light (Identity Dreams Series)

Lady Avery

Whisper in Motion

Super Siesta

Delta Zulu Paris

Artistas contra la tortura

Lyana au miroir