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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Subcategories

Black and white

Happy Feet

Björk

Abstract

Madonna

Gréco, Piccoli, 1966 / Paris Match

Clark Gable à Paris

Untitled

Memories I

Huts

Home staging

David Bowie - The Archer

First one

Catherine Deneuve, France

Nice, plongeoir de « La Réserve »,

Chantilly

Vanité

Michael Jackson and Muhammad Ali and wife, Veronica Parker Ali

Ôte toi de mon soleil

Mostar Bridge

Woman with lute ( Ervina Kupferova )

Asfixia

99101 - Midway Lights

B.B. King, Los Angeles, CA

Sans Titre (Mains positives, Mains négatives)

Power Flower

Sitka

A Face in the Crowd, Disney World, FL (24)

Mark Ronson

A bird without a song

Straight to heaven

1 Kilomètre #10

Tribal

Sharpness 02

Untitled #10

Saudade

Lichtreflex Rotation

Marilyn Crying

Un’isola nell’aria

Untitled from the series Shifty Packets

Blackboard

Sea edge

Eux deux

Searching for the stars

Eclipse

Photographie de John Steinbeck

Truffaut, 1966 / Paris Match

Untitled (2746)

Passe de cape

Eiffel Breakdance

Lion staring

Barrio Chino, Barcelona

Le circassien

Vigilant

Ma petite

Aizhan Mukatova I

Place de Fürstenberg, Paris

Artichoke II

Charlotte Rampling Casino

Marilyn Monroe et l'éléphantin du cirque Barnum

Wrapped vendor

Guerre d'Algérie, 1962

Michael Jackson

Marilyn Monroe in Niagara

Michael Jackson VI

Sac à main

Sleeping Beauty