Skip to main content

Conceptual Black and White Photography

CONCEPTUAL STYLE

In 1967, artist Sol LeWitt wrote that in “Conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work.” He was giving a name to an art movement that had emerged in the 1960s in which artists were less focused on their medium being something traditionally “artistic” and instead engaged in using any object, movement, form, action or place to express an idea.

LeWitt’s work was featured alongside an assemblage of notes, drawings and outlines by other artists in “Working Drawings and Other Visible Things on Paper Not Necessarily Meant to Be Viewed as Art,” a groundbreaking show at New York City’s School of Visual Arts curated by Mel Bochner, another leading exponent of Conceptualism. Building on radical 20th-century statements, like Fountain (1917) by French artist Marcel Duchamp, Conceptual artists around Europe and North and South America were not interested in the commercial art scene and rather directly challenged its systems and values.

Stretching into the 1970s, this movement has also been called Post-Object art and Dematerialized art. Conceptual art reflected a larger era of social and political upheaval. Pieces associated with the style range from Roelof Louw’s Soul City (Pyramid of Oranges) (1967) — a work of installation art that sees fresh oranges stacked into a pyramid from which visitors are allowed to take one orange away — to On Kawara’s “Today” series, which saw the Japanese artist carefully painting a date in white acrylic on canvases consisting of a single color from 1966 to his death in 2014. Artists such as Ed Ruscha, who created the Twentysix Gasoline Stations book — a collection of photos of gas stations that is widely said to be the first modern artists’ book — made photography a major platform for Conceptual art, as did Bruce Nauman, who burned one of Ruscha's books and then photographed it for his own.

Conceptual art’s legacy of questioning artistic authorship, ownership and how to work with complex ideas of space and time had a significant influence on the decades of culture that followed, and it continues to inform art today.

The collection of Conceptual photography, paintings and sculptures on 1stDibs includes artworks by John Baldessari, Jenny Holzer, Lawrence Weiner, Joseph Kosuth and others.

to
3
32
13
17
13
25
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
44
56
1
1
10
7
13,946
5,319
1,528
701
504
455
309
73
46
15
9
7
4
50
46
4
58
33
21
15
14
13
12
11
11
9
8
7
6
6
5
5
5
5
5
5
44
39
37
12
10
22
16
9
5
5
16
47
61
36
Style: Conceptual
Untitled, MT Inv. No 2-059 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

Untitled, MT Inv. No 2-059 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

By Miroslav Tichy

Located in Zurich, CH

Miroslav Tichý (*1926, Czech Republic) Untitled, MT Inv. No 2-059 Unknown, ca. 1970-1990 Silver Gelatin Print Sheet 19,6 x 12,5 cm (7 3/4 x 4 7/8 in.) Unique Print only Tichý, practically reinventing photography from scratch, reconstitutes pictorialism along with it, and not as a distortion of the medium but as something like its essence. What counts for him is not only the image - just one moment in the photographic process - but also the chemical activity of the materials, which is never entirely stable or complete, and the delimitation of the results via cropping and framing. Marginal and exceptionally voyeuristic, in his methods Tichý could be described as an “art brut photographer” yet he is also marked by classical influences. Though his images are produced with poor-quality equipment and carelessly shot, they offer an idiosyncratic and almost hallucinatory vision of a fantastical, eroticised reality. With his endless return to the same subject and the volume and regularity of his production, Tichý’s work draws many parallels to certain practices of conceptual art during the same period. – Art, Black and White...

Category

Late 20th Century Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled, MT Inv. No 3-8-236 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

Untitled, MT Inv. No 3-8-236 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

By Miroslav Tichy

Located in Zurich, CH

Miroslav Tichý (*1926, Czech Republic) Untitled, MT Inv. No 3-8-236 Unknown, ca. 1970-1990 Silver Gelatin Print Sheet 16,8 x 11,8 cm (6 5/8 x 4 5/8 in.) Unique Print only Tichý, practically reinventing photography from scratch, reconstitutes pictorialism along with it, and not as a distortion of the medium but as something like its essence. What counts for him is not only the image - just one moment in the photographic process - but also the chemical activity of the materials, which is never entirely stable or complete, and the delimitation of the results via cropping and framing. Marginal and exceptionally voyeuristic, in his methods Tichý could be described as an “art brut photographer” yet he is also marked by classical influences. Though his images are produced with poor-quality equipment and carelessly shot, they offer an idiosyncratic and almost hallucinatory vision of a fantastical, eroticised reality. With his endless return to the same subject and the volume and regularity of his production, Tichý’s work draws many parallels to certain practices of conceptual art during the same period. – Art, Black and White...

Category

Late 20th Century Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

"Untitled 1.22" Photography 24' x 35' inch Edition of 10 by García De Marina

"Untitled 1.22" Photography 24' x 35' inch Edition of 10 by García De Marina

By García De Marina

Located in Culver City, CA

"Untitled 1.22" Photography 24' x 35' inch Edition of 10 by García De Marina Signed and numbered by the artist Comes with COA issued by the artist García de Marina was born in Gij...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Digital Pigment

End of the Affair #2 - Ltd Ed
End of the Affair #2 - Ltd Ed

End of the Affair #2 - Ltd Ed

By Andrea McCafferty

Located in New York, NY

Vintage 50's Barbie with vintage accessories and set. Narrative depicts title - the end of the affair. Metallic print produced on metal. Black and white Photography. Ltd Ed.

Category

2010s Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Metal

Tempus Fugit

Tempus Fugit

By Phil Marco

Located in New York, NY

Face mounted Plexi. Aluminum Braced. Archival Print. Humorous, conceptual subject matter. ABOUT THE ARTIST Marco studied fine art at Pratt Institute and the Art Students League in New York. New York Times photography critic Gene Thornton called Marco “a Minimalist, whose images are sensual, whimsical, often surreal, always strong, and deceptively simple.” “I’ve had the pleasure of working with Phil Marco on a number of my films. Phil is a man of extraordinary talents. It seems that his passion is to take an everyday object or event, and show it in an entirely new and exciting way.” Martin Scorsese. Phil’s work is represented in MOMA, The Museum of the Moving Image, and The George Eastman Museum of Photography. His first photographs were studies for his paintings, before he launched a career in print advertising. He eventually became a Director / DP for film and television for a vast base of national and international clients with his wife Patricia as Partner and Producer. In the 1980’s and 90’s Phil was the go to person for Special Effects in Television and Cinema, also best known for his graphic conceptual still lives, and his consummate mastery of lighting, and design. He’s won many awards for his work, including numerous Cannes Lions, Cleo’s, a Grammy for his print work on the legendary “Tommy the...

Category

2010s Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Jackie Chavez

Jackie Chavez

By Delilah Montoya

Located in Denton, TX

Signed, titled, and dated. Gelatin silver print 20 x 16 in.

Category

Early 2000s Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled, MT Inv. No 9-1-56 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

Untitled, MT Inv. No 9-1-56 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

By Miroslav Tichy

Located in Zurich, CH

Miroslav Tichý (*1926, Czech Republic) Untitled, MT Inv. No 9-1-56 Unknown, ca. 1970-1990 Silver Gelatin Print Sheet 28,4 x 19,5 cm (11 1/8 x 7 5/8 in.) Unique Print only Tichý, practically reinventing photography from scratch, reconstitutes pictorialism along with it, and not as a distortion of the medium but as something like its essence. What counts for him is not only the image - just one moment in the photographic process - but also the chemical activity of the materials, which is never entirely stable or complete, and the delimitation of the results via cropping and framing. Marginal and exceptionally voyeuristic, in his methods Tichý could be described as an “art brut photographer” yet he is also marked by classical influences. Though his images are produced with poor-quality equipment and carelessly shot, they offer an idiosyncratic and almost hallucinatory vision of a fantastical, eroticised reality. With his endless return to the same subject and the volume and regularity of his production, Tichý’s work draws many parallels to certain practices of conceptual art during the same period. – Art, Black and White...

Category

Late 20th Century Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled, MT Inv. No 4-3-275 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

Untitled, MT Inv. No 4-3-275 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

By Miroslav Tichy

Located in Zurich, CH

Miroslav Tichý (*1926, Czech Republic) Untitled, MT Inv. No 4-3-275 Unknown, ca. 1970-1990 Silver Gelatin Print Sheet 18,1 x 13,1 cm (7 1/8 x 5 1/8 in.) Unique Print only Tichý, ...

Category

Late 20th Century Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled, MT Inv. No 3-8-437 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

Untitled, MT Inv. No 3-8-437 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

By Miroslav Tichy

Located in Zurich, CH

Miroslav Tichý (*1926, Czech Republic) Untitled, MT Inv. No 3-8-437 Unknown, ca. 1970-1990 Silver Gelatin Print Sheet 11,8 x 20,4 cm (4 5/8 x 8 in.) Unique Print only Tichý, prac...

Category

Late 20th Century Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled, MT Inv. No 3-8-431 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

Untitled, MT Inv. No 3-8-431 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

By Miroslav Tichy

Located in Zurich, CH

Miroslav Tichý (*1926, Czech Republic) Untitled, MT Inv. No 3-8-431 Unknown, ca. 1970-1990 Silver Gelatin Print Sheet 15 x 9,8 cm (5 7/8 x 3 7/8 in.) Unique Print only Tichý, pra...

Category

Late 20th Century Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled, MT Inv. No 4-089 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

Untitled, MT Inv. No 4-089 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

By Miroslav Tichy

Located in Zurich, CH

Miroslav Tichý (*1926, Czech Republic) Untitled, MT Inv. No 4-089 Unknown, ca. 1970-1990 Silver Gelatin Print Sheet 20,6 x 12,3 cm (8 1/8 x 4 7/8 in.) Unique Print only Tichý, pr...

Category

Late 20th Century Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled, MT Inv. No 2-070 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

Untitled, MT Inv. No 2-070 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

By Miroslav Tichy

Located in Zurich, CH

Miroslav Tichý (*1926, Czech Republic) Untitled, MT Inv. No 2-070 Unknown, ca. 1970-1990 Silver Gelatin Print Sheet 18,1 x 13,2 cm (7 1/8 x 5 1/4 in.) Unique Print only Tichý, practically reinventing photography from scratch, reconstitutes pictorialism along with it, and not as a distortion of the medium but as something like its essence. What counts for him is not only the image - just one moment in the photographic process - but also the chemical activity of the materials, which is never entirely stable or complete, and the delimitation of the results via cropping and framing. Marginal and exceptionally voyeuristic, in his methods Tichý could be described as an “art brut photographer” yet he is also marked by classical influences. Though his images are produced with poor-quality equipment and carelessly shot, they offer an idiosyncratic and almost hallucinatory vision of a fantastical, eroticised reality. With his endless return to the same subject and the volume and regularity of his production, Tichý’s work draws many parallels to certain practices of conceptual art during the same period. – Art, Black and White...

Category

Late 20th Century Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled, MT Inv. No 3-8-185 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

Untitled, MT Inv. No 3-8-185 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

By Miroslav Tichy

Located in Zurich, CH

Miroslav Tichý (*1926, Czech Republic) Untitled, MT Inv. No 3-8-185 Unknown, ca. 1970-1990 Silver Gelatin Print Sheet 14,9 x 10,4 cm (5 7/8 x 4 1/8 in.) Unique Print only Tichý, practically reinventing photography from scratch, reconstitutes pictorialism along with it, and not as a distortion of the medium but as something like its essence. What counts for him is not only the image - just one moment in the photographic process - but also the chemical activity of the materials, which is never entirely stable or complete, and the delimitation of the results via cropping and framing. Marginal and exceptionally voyeuristic, in his methods Tichý could be described as an “art brut photographer” yet he is also marked by classical influences. Though his images are produced with poor-quality equipment and carelessly shot, they offer an idiosyncratic and almost hallucinatory vision of a fantastical, eroticised reality. With his endless return to the same subject and the volume and regularity of his production, Tichý’s work draws many parallels to certain practices of conceptual art during the same period. – Art, Black and White...

Category

Late 20th Century Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled, MT Inv. No 7-6-88 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

Untitled, MT Inv. No 7-6-88 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

By Miroslav Tichy

Located in Zurich, CH

Miroslav Tichý (*1926, Czech Republic) Untitled, MT Inv. No 7-6-88 Unknown, ca. 1970-1990 Silver Gelatin Print Sheet 17 x 10,3 cm (6 3/4 x 4 in.) Unique Print only Tichý, practic...

Category

Late 20th Century Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled, MT Inv. No 7-10-51 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

Untitled, MT Inv. No 7-10-51 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

By Miroslav Tichy

Located in Zurich, CH

Miroslav Tichý (*1926, Czech Republic) Untitled, MT Inv. No 7-10-51 Unknown, ca. 1970-1990 Silver Gelatin Print Sheet 16 x 8,4 cm (6 1/4 x 3 1/4 in.) Unique Print only Tichý, pra...

Category

Late 20th Century Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled, MT Inv. No 7-11-31 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

Untitled, MT Inv. No 7-11-31 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

By Miroslav Tichy

Located in Zurich, CH

Miroslav Tichý (*1926, Czech Republic) Untitled, MT Inv. No 7-11-31 Unknown, ca. 1970-1990 Silver Gelatin Print Sheet 18 x 13 cm (7 1/8 x 5 1/8 in.) Unique Print only Tichý, prac...

Category

Late 20th Century Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled, MT Inv. No 10-1-96 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

Untitled, MT Inv. No 10-1-96 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

By Miroslav Tichy

Located in Zurich, CH

Miroslav Tichý (*1926, Czech Republic) Untitled, MT Inv. No 10-1-96 Unknown, ca. 1970-1990 Silver Gelatin Print Sheet 17,9 x 11,2 cm (7 x 4 3/8 in.) Unique Print only Tichý, prac...

Category

Late 20th Century Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled, MT Inv. No 11-1-120 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

Untitled, MT Inv. No 11-1-120 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

By Miroslav Tichy

Located in Zurich, CH

Miroslav Tichý (*1926, Czech Republic) Untitled, MT Inv. No 11-1-120 Unknown, ca. 1970-1990 Silver Gelatin Print Sheet 17,9 x 13 cm (7 x 5 1/8 in.) Unique Print only Tichý, pract...

Category

Late 20th Century Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled, MT Inv. No 10-1-167 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

Untitled, MT Inv. No 10-1-167 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

By Miroslav Tichy

Located in Zurich, CH

Miroslav Tichý (*1926, Czech Republic) Untitled, MT Inv. No 10-1-167 Unknown, ca. 1970-1990 Silver Gelatin Print Sheet 17,7 x 17,8 cm (7 x 7 in.) Unique Print only Tichý, practically reinventing photography from scratch, reconstitutes pictorialism along with it, and not as a distortion of the medium but as something like its essence. What counts for him is not only the image - just one moment in the photographic process - but also the chemical activity of the materials, which is never entirely stable or complete, and the delimitation of the results via cropping and framing. Marginal and exceptionally voyeuristic, in his methods Tichý could be described as an “art brut photographer” yet he is also marked by classical influences. Though his images are produced with poor-quality equipment and carelessly shot, they offer an idiosyncratic and almost hallucinatory vision of a fantastical, eroticised reality. With his endless return to the same subject and the volume and regularity of his production, Tichý’s work draws many parallels to certain practices of conceptual art during the same period. – Art, Black and White...

Category

Late 20th Century Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled, MT Inv. No 6-9-23 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

Untitled, MT Inv. No 6-9-23 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

By Miroslav Tichy

Located in Zurich, CH

Miroslav Tichý (*1926, Czech Republic) Untitled, MT Inv. No 6-9-23 Unknown, ca. 1970-1990 Silver Gelatin Print Sheet 23 x 16,5 cm (9 x 6 1/2 in.) Unique Print only Tichý, practic...

Category

Late 20th Century Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

End of the Affair #4 Ltd Ed
End of the Affair #4 Ltd Ed

End of the Affair #4 Ltd Ed

By Andrea McCafferty

Located in New York, NY

Vintage 50's Barbie with vintage accessories and set. Narrative depicts title - the end of the affair. Metallic print produced on metal. Black and white Photography. Ltd Ed.

Category

2010s Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Metal

End of the Affair #3 Ltd Ed.
End of the Affair #3 Ltd Ed.

End of the Affair #3 Ltd Ed.

By Andrea McCafferty

Located in New York, NY

Vintage 50's Barbie with vintage accessories and set. Narrative depicts title - the end of the affair. Metallic print produced on metal. Black and white Photography. Ltd Ed.

Category

2010s Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Metal

The End of The Affair #1 - Ltd Ed
The End of The Affair #1 - Ltd Ed

The End of The Affair #1 - Ltd Ed

By Andrea McCafferty

Located in New York, NY

Vintage 50's Barbie with vintage accessories and set. Narrative depicts title - the end of the affair. Metallic print produced on metal. Black and white Photography. Ltd Ed.

Category

2010s Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Metal

Totem of Unmeasurable Memory Assemblage 7 Silver Gelatin Photograph Photo Prints
Totem of Unmeasurable Memory Assemblage 7 Silver Gelatin Photograph Photo Prints

Totem of Unmeasurable Memory Assemblage 7 Silver Gelatin Photograph Photo Prints

By Lewis Koch

Located in Surfside, FL

Totem of Unmeasurable Memory, 1995 Assemblage of 7 vintage silver gelatin prints Lewis Koch lives in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. After completing undergraduate studies in social histor...

Category

1990s Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Side Views - William Wegman (Colour Photography)

Side Views - William Wegman (Colour Photography)

By William Wegman

Located in London, GB

Side Views - William Wegman (Colour Photography) Signed and inscribed with title Unique black and white Polaroid print, printed 1998 24 x 20 inches The dogs, bewigged and bedecked w...

Category

1990s Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Polaroid

It was finally my day! 2015

It was finally my day! 2015

By Jennifer Greenburg

Located in Sante Fe, NM

Jennifer Greenburg challenges social norms and the nature of vernacular photographs in her series Revising History. Interjecting herself in mid-century images from the 1940’s – 60’s,...

Category

2010s Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Two years later, I was drunk enough to sing at the St. Pat's party. 2014

Two years later, I was drunk enough to sing at the St. Pat's party. 2014

By Jennifer Greenburg

Located in Sante Fe, NM

Jennifer Greenburg challenges social norms and the nature of vernacular photographs in her series Revising History. Interjecting herself in mid-century images from the 1940’s – 60’s,...

Category

2010s Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Napping with Floyd, 2011

Napping with Floyd, 2011

By Jennifer Greenburg

Located in Sante Fe, NM

Jennifer Greenburg challenges social norms and the nature of vernacular photographs in her series Revising History. Interjecting herself in mid-century images from the 1940’s – 60’s,...

Category

2010s Conceptual Black and White Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Conceptual black and white photography for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Conceptual black and white photography available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Savannah Spirit, Miroslav Tichy, Jennifer Greenburg, and Samuel Field. Frequently made by artists working with Archival Pigment Print, and Pigment Print and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Conceptual black and white photography, so small editions measuring 3.31 inches across are also available. Prices for black and white photography made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $278 and tops out at $46,412, while the average work sells for $3,000.