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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Black and white

Marilyn Offset Green

Gretchen Van de Kamp Ward In Gustave Tassell

Spirit of Forest 24565

Spirit of Forest 23

100th Anniversary Celebration Coffret # 1 - New York Discovery

Robert Plant (1993)

Nick Cave

David Lynch

David Gilmour

David Gilmour

Brett Anderson

Bono

Chancay VIII

MP391

MP323

Un air d exotisme : Mahe Seychelles

Langage secret

Paysage 4

Paysage 1

Himba mother and child

100th Anniversary Celebration Coffret # 7 - Vaticano

100th Anniversary Celebration Coffret # 6 - Bangkok

Ancora il vapore, Canada

Georgian Bay Airways, Canada, à bord du Canadian Pacific

La partita di Hockey, Canada

Universo bianco, Canada

Al riposo, Canada

« La ciminiera non è sua », Canada novembre 1955

« The Rex Hotel », Toronto, novembre 1955

« Da una macchina fotografica gelata », Canada, novembre 1955

On Wellington Street, Toronto

Fellaz on Frenchmen

Faces 1 & 2

MP465

MP187

MP338

MP052

MP003

The secret

I am not there

Relleus i signes

Havana café

A Moment with Mario

Voilier de tradition. Brest. Voile

Lewis Hamilton. MacLaren. Espagne. 1

Too deep, too closely

Corazon y alma

Forêt Enchantée

Karpe Di

Donna Summer

Reconnais qu'il y a toujours une inconnue

Couple de Tigres du Bengale. Inde

Voile et Voiliers

Graciela

NY Apartments - 1953 Slim Aarons Limited Edition Estate Stamped Print

Origins: from the Blanco series.

Vin - Sieste dans le carnotzet - Série : Carnotzet

Queen of Flowers - Format L

New York Debutante

Jazz scooter

Las manos desoladas

Before the mess

Magnolia No. 37

Stillness

Piscine Molitor 85

Debutante Ball