If you wanted to make comparisons between black & white painting vs. colored painting, one can find no better example than the restored frescos of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling. The ceiling had been shrouded in residue from clouds of dust and smoke for hundreds of years. As a result, his murals were "studies" of form in graduated and muted tones. Scholars and visitors looking at the frescos today have an entirely different reaction than those looking previous to the restoration.
Artist Holly Winterborn, who has recently commissioned Artfusion to produce some 2 metre square prints based on her series of black and white paintings, says "I feel that black and white paintings engage the viewer more and inspire more imagination from the viewer. Our brains instantly recognise colours and associations made from colour, ie: an apple is red, a sky is blue. When black and white is viewed, the observer is forced to study the image more and fill-in-the-blanks, using their imagination and building a personal relationship with the image.
However, many paintings that are black and white, are rarely black and white. The blacks are brown, yellow, blue or other shades of black; the whites cream, amber, rose or other pastel or off white. Holly says "Most important is the light. My series of paintings is about the light. Light is used to create contrast, model 3 dimensions, add mood and feeling."
Artfusion agree that painting in black and white is not the absence of colour, but the restricted use of colour with emphasis on other aspects of the image.
