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
Tatacoa II, Pigment Prints
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 91.9 x 110 x 0.3 cm Photography - 36.2 x 43.3 x 0.1 inch
£2,049
Série Love is in the air 4 - 1/2
Line Taarnberg
Photography - 30 x 30 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
£356
Série Love is in the air - 9
Line Taarnberg
Photography - 30 x 30 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
£356
Untitled 18
Ghylan Safadi
Fine Art Drawings - 60 x 75 cm Fine Art Drawings - 23.6 x 29.5 inch
£1,804
Magnetic Radiation 99 (Large)
Seb Janiak
Photography - 180 x 135 cm Photography - 70.9 x 53.1 inch
£6,000
Bosque Alto Andino Chingaza
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 35.6 x 27.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 14 x 11 x 0.1 inch
£410
Too busy surviving to be angry
Idan Wizen
Photography - 120 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 47.2 x 0 inch
£2,225
How do I have so many debts!
Idan Wizen
Photography - 120 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 47.2 x 0 inch
£2,225
Don’t let me starve
Idan Wizen
Photography - 120 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 47.2 x 0 inch
£2,225
Chirac, 1967 / Paris Match
Patrice Habans
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
£1,335
Temporality 5
Edin Mustafic
Photography - 51 x 37.5 x 1.5 cm Photography - 20.1 x 14.8 x 0.6 inch
£534
Temporality 4
Edin Mustafic
Photography - 51 x 37.5 x 1.5 cm Photography - 20.1 x 14.8 x 0.6 inch
£534
Temporality 3
Edin Mustafic
Photography - 51 x 37.5 x 1.5 cm Photography - 20.1 x 14.8 x 0.6 inch
£534
Temporality 2
Edin Mustafic
Photography - 51 x 37.5 x 1.5 cm Photography - 20.1 x 14.8 x 0.6 inch
£534
Fête de L'Humanité
Walter Carone
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
£668
California IV
Clara Delaporte
Photography - 40 x 60 x 4 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 1.6 inch
£890
Protea Obtusifolia
Griselda Duch
Photography - 32 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 12.6 x 17.7 x 0 inch
£590
Protea Lacticolor
Griselda Duch
Photography - 32 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 12.6 x 17.7 x 0 inch
£590
Peak Mid Winter #9
Jonathan Moore
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£750
Peak Mid Winter 8
Jonathan Moore
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£750
Peak Mid Winter #7
Jonathan Moore
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
£750
Peak Mid Winter #3
Jonathan Moore
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£750
Brooklyn, Pigment Prints
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 110 x 91.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 43.3 x 36.2 x 0.1 inch
£2,049
Brainstorming Trees
Gonçalo Martins
Photography - 29 x 29 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.4 x 11.4 x 0 inch
£142
Untitled 6 (Paris)
Arslan Sükan
Photography - 50 x 75 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 29.5 x 0 inch
£3,279
3 - La montée de Persephone
Mita Vostok
Photography - 60 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
£712
2 - Les âges de la vie - Naguère
Mita Vostok
Photography - 60 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
£712
2- Le rapt de Persephone
Mita Vostok
Photography - 60 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
£712
Friday morning, six o'clock III
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 30 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 11.8 x 0 inch
£267
Friday morning, six o'clock II
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 30 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 11.8 x 0 inch
£267
Friday morning, six o'clock I
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 30 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 11.8 x 0 inch
£267
Paris, Jardin des Tuileries Fashion Week Défilé Dior
Olivia Bonnamour
Photography - 40 x 60 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 inch
£490
Silence and soul
Richard Kelley
Photography - 75 x 50 x 4 cm Photography - 29.5 x 19.7 x 1.6 inch
£1,335
Aiguille du Grépon
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0 inch
£1,602
Glacier des Bossons sous nuages
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0 inch
£1,602
L’Aiguille Verte
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0 inch
£1,602
Sous le Signal Forbes
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£1,246
Le Clou Positif
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£1,246
Descente de l’arête de l’Aiguille du midi
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£1,246
Les Drus et La Verte
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£1,246
L’Aiguille de l’M
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£1,246
Vallée de Chamonix
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£1,246
Glacier d’Argentière
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
£846
Au-dessus d’Argentier
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
£846
L’Aiguillette d’Argentière
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
£846
Les Aiguilles de Chamonix vues de l’Index
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
£846
Aiguille du Goûter
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
£846
Les Aiguilles de Chamonix
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
£846
Le gendarme sur la frontière France-Italie
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
£846
Au-dessus du Val d’Arly
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0 inch
£846
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!