This visually electric work demonstrates Ad Reinhardt’s early exploration of the ways black and white paints
reflect and absorb light, appear when applied in thin washes or thick impasto, adhere to a canvas, and
respond to a brush. Black and White also reveals Reinhardt’s nuanced understanding of the sometimes surprising material and perceptual effects of color, which he rigorously addressed through the color black’s multiple optical possibilities. Although the artist largely abandoned gestural abstraction by the early 1950s in favor of rigid geometric structures, Reinhardt continued to pursue a robust argument in his paintings against the commonly perceived emptiness or invisibility of black.