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

Masque de Kuntermann

Draff N°410

Maïs, Le Marais D'Arles

Anatomie 10

Le retour d'Egypte

Vandal

M338

Gilet Yellow

Courte pause 7

M241

Plant Study No. 78

Plant Study No. 69

Bloodroot No. 7

Wild Rose No. 5

Magnolia No. 38

Bloodroot No. 6

Iris No. 104

Iris No. 103

Magnolia No. 31

Barren No. 13

Iris No. 90

From Shalott

Nero III

The Tea At Fife O'Clock (Alice In Wonderland)

Magnolia No. 35

Magnolia No. 33

Magnolia No. 32

Meditation No. 7

Meditation No. 2

Hanging Leaves No. 8

Plant Study No. 17

Zitouna Mosque

Moose in Fog

Disruption II. Wall sculpture intervened by the artists.

Illustration from the series "Les Fleurs du mal"

Ten Winter Tools

La veste du peintre

Time Slip

Fontaine aux Muses

Comprendre

Composition avec du Rose

Graceful

Storm Series Horizontal 43

Storm Series Horizontal 40

Storm Series Horizontal 8

Looking at Arcadia. Photograph intervened by the artists.

Iris No. 45

Le lien

Letter V

Femme à la pipe

Le gondolier, Venise

House 3

Mexico

Après notre fuite

Beta

Selfportrait

Material Girl

Guernika New Age _ tribute to Picasso

Les cantonniers, Rue des Martyrs, Paris 9, 1950

WD01

RTU 178513

La montée des eaux

Vertige métaphysique

La naissance des haricots

Ce matin j'ai le cafard

Untitled