Black and white
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OverSide
Photography - 70 x 50 x 0.5 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0.2 inch
$393
Céréales 3
Sébastien Chauchot
Photography - 40 x 35 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 13.8 x 0.4 inch
$393
Defining Shadows II
Maureen J Haldeman
Photography - 101.6 x 76.2 x 0.6 cm Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.25 inch
$1,400
H
Eugénie Lichet
Fine Art Drawings - 29.7 x 21 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.7 x 8.3 x 0 inch
$112
Architecture 14
Gonçalo Martins
Photography - 19.5 x 19.5 x 0.1 cm Photography - 7.7 x 7.7 x 0 inch
$146
Reflet - Autoportrait
Valérie Abadie
Fine Art Drawings - 44 x 56 x 0.2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 17.3 x 22 x 0.1 inch
$4,488
Growing space VII
Gergana Tabakova
Fine Art Drawings - 25 x 25 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 9.8 x 9.8 x 0 inch
$561
Série: photographie concrète numérique - IMG_2148 31.05.2012
Roger Humbert
Photography - 30 x 24 cm Photography - 11.8 x 9.4 inch
$2,019
Breathe It In
Rika Maja Duevel
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$1,357
Love is a river
Benoit Ruff
Photography - 42 x 29.7 x 0.2 cm Photography - 16.5 x 11.7 x 0.1 inch
$393
Hendrix Contact Sheet
Robert Knight
Photography - 76.2 x 101.6 x 5.1 cm Photography - 30 x 40 x 2 inch
$1,750
1999-New Orleans - Black and White Photograph of Woman on New Orleans Street Car
Jean-Luc Fievet
Photography - 100.3 x 149.9 cm Photography - 39.5 x 59 inch
$3,900
Repos II - série oiseaux
Henry Ausloos
Photography - 40 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$1,543
Free Spirit nº1
Pierre Cherix
Photography - 70 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$505
Abstraction urbaine #5
Guillaume Chevallard
Photography - 49 x 69 x 2.9 cm Photography - 19.3 x 27.2 x 1.1 inch
$1,346
Féraud 1970 Black Sculpture Abstraction
Albert Féraud
Photography - 40 x 28 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11 inch
$2,132
Senegal 2020, Horizon des événements
Hubert Lebaudy
Photography - 60 x 80 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0.4 inch
$1,907
Série Paysages effacés - Paysage du Cotentin 4
Olivier Pasquiers
Photography - 60 x 80 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0.4 inch
$752
Paris 13 ème "Olympiades Vibes N°2" (XL)
Papa Mesk
Photography - 160 x 90 x 1 cm Photography - 63 x 35.4 x 0.4 inch
$1,795
Manufactura 3
Oriol Texidor
Photography - 40 x 50 x 7 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 x 2.8 inch
$1,414
In-between B1
Nikolay Stefanov
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.2 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0.1 inch
$1,582
Catherine Deneuve, France
Raymond Depardon
Photography - 61 x 45.7 x 5.1 cm Photography - 24 x 18 x 2 inch
$1,350
Mostar Bridge
Ludovic Careme
Photography - 40 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$1,515
Collection Ville Autrement / Nice Autrement / Divin
Franck Doat
Photography - 30 x 25 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 9.8 x 0 inch
$617
Petit labyrinthe
Paul Richard Mason
Fine Art Drawings - 21 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 8.3 x 11.7 x 0 inch
$2,132
A l'abri des regards
Alain Longeaud
Photography - 50 x 65 x 0.5 cm Photography - 19.7 x 25.6 x 0.2 inch
$1,402
In Flow V
Melanie Dulson
Fine Art Drawings - 60 x 44 x 0.01 cm Fine Art Drawings - 23.6 x 17.3 x 0 inch
$1,066
Twickenham Streaker
Ian Bradshaw
Photography - 30 x 42.5 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 16.7 x 0 inch
$2,188
Fille aux sacs poubelles
Eugenia Jaeger
Fine Art Drawings - 50 x 70 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.7 x 27.6 inch
$898
Murs d'equilibrisme
Bel Mur
Painting - 119.9 x 119.9 x 0.5 cm Painting - 47.2 x 47.2 x 0.2 inch
$3,077
Sans Titre (Mains positives, Mains négatives)
David Prudhomme
Print - 78 x 114 cm Print - 30.7 x 44.9 inch
$1,122
Lirio roto, Obra del Grupo Danza del Alma, Cuba
Sonia Almaguer
Photography - 24 x 32 x 2 cm Photography - 9.4 x 12.6 x 0.8 inch
$1,346
Black and white
Before the arrival of photography – with the exception of some etchings and lithographs – all the images we consumed were in colour. Quite simply, because no one would ever have thought to do anything else – why paint in black and white when colour was so readily available?
Yet despite this, today many photographers still choose to work in black and white – such as Pauline Théon, Kadir Von Lohuizen or Joh Lowenstein – even though their photos are taken in colour by the camera itself. Is the black and white trend a fleeting effect of fashion, or a symbolic return to the roots of the photography movement? Black and white photography has something that colour photos, despite recent innovations and the extraordinary quality of images today, cannot quite access. The use of black and white lends significant force to the composition: the contrasts, the shadows and the figures all stand out more strongly. People simply feel differently when faced with a colour photo versus a black and white image.
Colour is a distraction of sorts, a disturbance: colour is a nuisance.
And yet, some photographers still prefer colour to black and white, whilst others merge touches of colour with otherwise monochrome compositions. But in the end, all agree that both styles impose a totally different way of looking at a photo: from researching the shot to post production work, when artists develop or retouch the image. The use of colour is therefore something of a process in its own right, relating to two different ways of viewing the world and showing it others. The question, then, is what is being told, and why is it being in the way that it is?
The symbolic value of putting black and white together is a good starting point for reflecting on the fascination that they generate even today. There could not be a more fascinating, more striking ambivalence than when black, the 'colour' of darkness and burnt coal, considered a non-colour, is placed alongside white – representing light, and the result of all the colours merged together.
The problem faced by photographers today is that black and white still carry strong connotations of the past, of an era before the popularisation of colour and its massive cultural recovery amongst the press and photo journalists. In fact, it is rare now that contemporary subjects are photographed in colour, but we still associate black and white images with a retro feel.
So what does contemporary art have to say about it all? Discover Artsper's selection of black and white works: on the border of past and present, of the real and the imaginary… let us guide you!