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

Lyric theatre

Pivoine

Kissing ladies - Limited edition

Social Camouflage

Sans 1

New York Les Patineurs

Adriana Rayén

2X2 (1)

Head to toe. Black and white photograph

The infinite breath of Utopia #Gold

Picasso

House in Mud

Squirting champagne, Lagoon of Orbetello

Rendez-vous mon amour 3

John Lennon, More Popular Than Jesus

Grand Palais, Paris

Yosemite National Park. USA on the road

Dont Walk

Belmondo / Paris Match (1)

Dietrich / Paris Match

Kelly, Aumont / Paris Match

Bird walk

Last stop

Chicago #03

Sledding Buddies

Apaiser le brouillard

Bes a l'aigua

Le Plongeon #4

Leaf Veins III

Tjöm

Ours au poisson

Yosémite

Interior de la Iglesia de Espejo (Cordoba) en septiembre de 1937

L'eau I

Jeanne Hébuterne - Planche 64

Eurêka Joaquin

Flooded Mall

Noir 01 “Black River”

La mer et la montagne

Nouveau départ

Early Moon

Fudou-no-taki

Give

Sans Titre

Wally ghost 01

Madison Man

Le panier

Greeting from Paris

Yves Klein/ Pierre Descargues - Zone de sensibilité

Lonely meditation

Record no. 1

Letters

Potato with Nails

Sous Mac, Niteroï

Seize the moment

Agnès Varda - Les plages d'Agnès

Tiim

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao 1

Dance of Giraffes

Bored Dog

Zebras, Tanzania, Africa

Impact 21

1 - La descente de Persephone

Gallinacean III

God is in the details

Collection Elisabeth Wessel (Villa Arson)