Black and white
Save your search and find it in your favorites
Saved search
Your search is accessible from the favorites tab > My favorite searches
Unsaved search
A problem occurred
Couple femmes
Claude Guillaumin
Photography - 40 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$1,842
The picture of emotions and other ailments of a sensitive human XVII
Joanna Chudy
Photography - 50 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$837
The picture of emotions and other ailments of a sensitive human III
Joanna Chudy
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$837
Noir ou Blanc META Graphic 01
Jean-Claude Byandb
Photography - 60 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 17.7 x 0 inch
$681
Adventure
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$876
La brezza
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$876
Distant sky
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
$726
Curves #30
Michal Zahornacky
Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,674
Anna Lava Rock
Jean-Léonard Polo
Photography - 135 x 200 x 2 cm Photography - 53.1 x 78.7 x 0.8 inch
$1,005
Would you swim with me? XII
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 61.8 x 70 x 0.1 cm Photography - 24.3 x 27.6 x 0 inch
$212
Would you swim with me? XI
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 52.5 x 70 x 0.1 cm Photography - 20.7 x 27.6 x 0 inch
$212
Would you swim with me? X
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 52.5 x 70 x 0.1 cm Photography - 20.7 x 27.6 x 0 inch
$212
Play of light
Lesya Rozova
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.01 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$1,340
Nude (recto-verso)
Leszek Rózga
Fine Art Drawings - 15.5 x 21.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 6.1 x 8.5 inch
$893
Prends ma main
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 40 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,060
Guerrière assise
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 25 x 25 x 1 cm Photography - 9.8 x 9.8 x 0.4 inch
$1,060
Untitled (Identity promises series)
Imanol Marrodán
Photography - 40 x 80 x 0.2 cm Photography - 15.7 x 31.5 x 0.1 inch
$1,898
Summertime in Valle Oscuru
Imanol Marrodán
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$949
Superfície de l’última dispersió (The Surface of the Last Scatter)
Martí Sala
Photography - 30 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$893
Hallazgo en la azotea
Martí Sala
Photography - 30 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,005
The film maker
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 22 x 22 x 1 cm Photography - 8.7 x 8.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,060
Braquage Braquage
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 40 x 50 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
$949 $854
Bonnie & Clyde
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 22 x 22 x 1 cm Photography - 8.7 x 8.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,060
Black Angel on Knees
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 22 x 22 x 1 cm Photography - 8.7 x 8.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,060
Guerrières sautant avec masques
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 25 x 25 x 1 cm Photography - 9.8 x 9.8 x 0.4 inch
$781
Guerrière allongée sur mannequin
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 25 x 25 x 1 cm Photography - 9.8 x 9.8 x 0.4 inch
$781
Guerrière avec bouclier Mercedes
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 105 x 115 x 1 cm Photography - 41.3 x 45.3 x 0.4 inch
$1,674
Guerrière avec 3 heaumes
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 25 x 25 x 1 cm Photography - 9.8 x 9.8 x 0.4 inch
$781
Guerrière au soleil
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 25 x 25 x 1 cm Photography - 9.8 x 9.8 x 0.4 inch
$1,060
Guerrière Louve
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 25 x 25 x 1 cm Photography - 9.8 x 9.8 x 0.4 inch
$1,060
Guerrière lointaine
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 25 x 25 x 1 cm Photography - 9.8 x 9.8 x 0.4 inch
$781
Guerrière cartonnée
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 25 x 25 x 1 cm Photography - 9.8 x 9.8 x 0.4 inch
$781
Guerrière arquée
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 22 x 22 x 1 cm Photography - 8.7 x 8.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,060
Guerrière allongée
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 22 x 22 x 1 cm Photography - 8.7 x 8.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,060
Let There Be Light! #14
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$212
Let There Be Light! #11
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$212
Secret partagé
Maryse-Anne Couteau
Fine Art Drawings - 15 x 15 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 5.9 x 5.9 x 0.4 inch
$1,786
Grondement de corps
Tanguy Mendrisse
Photography - 30 x 24 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 9.4 x 0 inch
$140
La lune n'a rien à craindre des loups #11
VAM / Jean-Pierre Gilson
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$1,898
La lune n'a rien à craindre des loups #10
VAM / Jean-Pierre Gilson
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$1,898
La lune n'a rien à craindre des loups #8
VAM / Jean-Pierre Gilson
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$1,898
La lune n'a rien à craindre des loups #7
VAM / Jean-Pierre Gilson
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$1,898
La lune n'a rien à craindre des loups #4
VAM / Jean-Pierre Gilson
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$1,898
La lune n'a rien à craindre des loups #5
VAM / Jean-Pierre Gilson
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$1,898
1914 Lady en corset
Eugène Druet
Photography - 43 x 54 x 0.5 cm Photography - 16.9 x 21.3 x 0.2 inch
$1,619
Let There Be Light! #4
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$212
Would You Swim with Me? V
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 70 x 52.5 x 0.1 cm Photography - 27.6 x 20.7 x 0 inch
$212
Would You swim with Me?
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 30 x 90 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 35.4 x 0 inch
$212
La Coquette
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$876
Euphoria
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$2,925
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!