Black and white
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Dans le Metro
Alexander Benz
Photography - 80 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$2,046
Urbain brutalisme - Photographie digigraphie
Claire Giraudeau
Photography - 40 x 30 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 inch
$171
Steinerene Rinne, Wilder Kaiser, Nordwärts
Peter Neusser
Photography - 122 x 87 cm Photography - 48 x 34.3 inch
$3,638
Contemplum #017
Dani Garcia Sarabia
Photography - 33 x 50 x 0.03 cm Photography - 13 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$966
Contemplum #013
Dani Garcia Sarabia
Photography - 19 x 29 x 0.03 cm Photography - 7.5 x 11.4 x 0 inch
$739
Contemplum #012
Dani Garcia Sarabia
Photography - 19 x 29 x 0.03 cm Photography - 7.5 x 11.4 x 0 inch
$739
Contemplum #011
Dani Garcia Sarabia
Photography - 19 x 29 x 0.03 cm Photography - 7.5 x 11.4 x 0 inch
$739
Contemplum #010
Dani Garcia Sarabia
Photography - 33 x 50 x 0.03 cm Photography - 13 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$966
Contemplum #009
Dani Garcia Sarabia
Photography - 50 x 33 x 0.03 cm Photography - 19.7 x 13 x 0 inch
$966
Personnage en colère
Georges Bru
Fine Art Drawings - 14 x 23 cm Fine Art Drawings - 5.5 x 9.1 inch
$1,250
Urbain brutalisme - Photographie digigraphie (1) (7)
Claire Giraudeau
Photography - 70 x 50 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 inch
$284
Yoko Ono in black ribbed sweater, Central Park, NY 1973
Bob Gruen
Photography - 61 x 50.8 x 5.1 cm Photography - 24 x 20 x 2 inch
$2,500
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, MSG, NYC 1972
Bob Gruen
Photography - 50.8 x 61 x 5.1 cm Photography - 20 x 24 x 2 inch
$2,500
Mick Jagger, MSG, NYC 1972
Bob Gruen
Photography - 50.8 x 61 x 5.1 cm Photography - 20 x 24 x 2 inch
$2,500
Mick Jagger, NYC 1972
Bob Gruen
Photography - 61 x 50.8 x 5.1 cm Photography - 24 x 20 x 2 inch
$2,500
Patti Smith & Lou Reed, Ocean Club, NYC 1976
Bob Gruen
Photography - 61 x 50.8 x 5.1 cm Photography - 24 x 20 x 2 inch
$2,500
John Lennon, Mick Jagger and Yoko Ono, Record Plant, NYC 1972
Bob Gruen
Photography - 50.8 x 61 x 5.1 cm Photography - 20 x 24 x 2 inch
$2,500
Johnny Rotten & Sid Vicious, Europe, 1977
Bob Gruen
Photography - 50.8 x 61 x 5.1 cm Photography - 20 x 24 x 2 inch
$2,500
Jon Bon Jovi, Moscow 1989
Bob Gruen
Photography - 61 x 50.8 x 5.1 cm Photography - 24 x 20 x 2 inch
$2,500
John Lennon contact sheet, NYC 1975
Bob Gruen
Photography - 61 x 50.8 x 5.1 cm Photography - 24 x 20 x 2 inch
$2,500
Joe Strummer and Gaby, NYC, 1981
Bob Gruen
Photography - 50.8 x 61 x 5.1 cm Photography - 20 x 24 x 2 inch
$2,500
Bernie Taupin and Elton John, NYC 1971
Bob Gruen
Photography - 50.8 x 61 x 5.1 cm Photography - 20 x 24 x 2 inch
$2,500
Clash & Bo Diddley, Agora Ballroom, Cleveland OH, 1979
Bob Gruen
Photography - 50.8 x 61 x 5.1 cm Photography - 20 x 24 x 2 inch
$2,500
Urbain brutalisme - Photographie digigraphie (1) (1)
Claire Giraudeau
Photography - 70 x 50 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 inch
$284
Lost & Found (2)
Théo Gosselin
Photography - 60 x 90 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0 inch
$2,501
Black Sabbath NYC 1971
Bob Gruen
Photography - 50.8 x 61 x 5.1 cm Photography - 20 x 24 x 2 inch
$2,500
Desvelando Gaudí 010
Ivanna Alejandra Sanchez Moretti
Photography - 53 x 40 cm Photography - 20.9 x 15.7 inch
$682
Desvelando Gaudí 08
Ivanna Alejandra Sanchez Moretti
Photography - 53 x 40 cm Photography - 20.9 x 15.7 inch
$682
Eternel Retour
Yves Bordes Lapeyre
Photography - 60 x 90 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0.4 inch
$614
Cinematography inspired session #25
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 17.7 x 0 inch
$216
Cinematography inspired session #3
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 45 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 17.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$216
Cinematography inspired session #2
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 17.7 x 0 inch
$216
La fille du roi de Birmanie réfugiée au Siam
The opium smoking white elephant
Photography - 60 x 40 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 inch
$909
Lévitation Effect 003
Jean-Claude Byandb
Photography - 60 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 17.7 x 0 inch
$693
L'annonciation (Islande)
Vincent Citot
Photography - 40 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$853
Retour au centre (Islande)
Vincent Citot
Photography - 40 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$853
Je ne suis pas content
Ghislaine Ferreira
Painting - 32 x 24 x 1 cm Painting - 12.6 x 9.4 x 0.4 inch
$455
Moonrise III
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 109.2 x 91.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 43 x 36 x 0.1 inch
$2,000
Sol Mallorca
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 109.2 x 91.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 43 x 36 x 0.1 inch
$2,000
Moonrise II
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 109.2 x 91.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 43 x 36 x 0.1 inch
$2,000
On the moon 13 - série portraits de femmes (1)
Stéphane Vereecken
Photography - 40 x 30 x 2 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.8 inch
$784
Jean-Paul Belmondo à Venise, Italie
Vittorio Pavan
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$909
Páramo Chingaza
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 110 x 91.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 43.3 x 36.2 x 0.1 inch
$2,000
Laguna Chingaza, Pigment Prints
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 110 x 91.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 43.3 x 36.2 x 0.1 inch
$2,000
Fusagasugá, Pigment Prints
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 47 x 47 x 0.3 cm Photography - 18.5 x 18.5 x 0.1 inch
$1,200
Deer Isle, Pigment Prints
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 47 x 47 x 0.3 cm Photography - 18.5 x 18.5 x 0.1 inch
$900
Alcornoque Evora, Pigment Print
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 110 x 110 x 0.3 cm Photography - 43.3 x 43.3 x 0.1 inch
$900
Would you swim with me? VII
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 52.5 x 70 x 0.1 cm Photography - 20.7 x 27.6 x 0 inch
$216
Tania Mallet In A Madame Paulette Hat
John French
Photography - 101.6 x 101.6 cm Photography - 40 x 40 inch
$1,108
Hide and seek
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$625
It’s nice and quiet…
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$602
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!