Black and White

Artworks, including photographs, that are either all black, all white, or a combination of the two. In the West in the 20th century various reasons accounted for painters’ use of this simplified palette. For example, Kazimir Malevich’s Black Square was one of the first expressions of the artist’s Suprematist theories. Additionally, Robert Rauschenberg made his modular panel “White Paintings” in 1951 with the aim of creating something that did not look as if it were done by hand. In doing so, he paved the way for later Minimalist art. In 1961, John Cage famously referred to Rauschenberg’s works as “airports for the lights, shadows, and particles,” proposing a reading of them as reflections (and recipients) of the life occurring in front of them.