Black & White
Artist
Lew Thomas
(American, 1932 - 2021)
Date1971; printed 2014
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage and sheet (each): 10 5/8 × 13 5/8 inches (26.99 × 34.61 cm)
Mount (each): 11 5/8 × 14 5/8 inches (29.54 × 37.16 cm)
Framed (each): 12 1/2 × 15 1/2 × 1 1/2 inches (31.75 × 39.37 × 3.81 cm)
Mount (each): 11 5/8 × 14 5/8 inches (29.54 × 37.16 cm)
Framed (each): 12 1/2 × 15 1/2 × 1 1/2 inches (31.75 × 39.37 × 3.81 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Hall Family Foundation
Object number2015.20.254.A,B
Signednone
Inscribednone
Markingsnone
Edition/State/ProofA.P. 2/2, ed. of 5
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionTwo photographs individually mounted and framed: One photograph is an image of the word “BLACK” printed in white text and centered on a black surface; the other photograph is of the word “WHITE” which is printed in black text and centered on a white surface (the words are the opposite color of how they read).Gallery Label
Is the word in the upper half of this two-piece work black or white? Does the representation of something, in a word or a photograph, shape its meaning, or is meaning drawn only from the thing itself?
By depicting the words "black" and "white" in their tonal opposites, Lew Thomas disrupts any easy parallels between language and meaning. For Thomas, this dissonance between the "reality" of a subject and the way it is represented in an image lies at the heart of black-and-white photography.
Copyright© Estate of Lew Thomas
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