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L'origine du monde (2)
The opium smoking white elephant
Photography - 50 x 100 cm Photography - 19.7 x 39.4 inch
$905
Let There Be Light #20
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$215
Let There Be Light #19
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$215
Let There Be Light #18
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$215
Let There Be Light! #17
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$215
Let There Be Light #16
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$215
Let There Be Light! #15
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$215
Let There Be Light! #12
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$215
Let There Be Light! #9
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$215
Let There Be Light! #8
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$215
Let There Be Light! #7
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$215
Let There Be Light! #6
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$215
Let There Be Light! #3
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$215
Temptation (Tentation)
Laura Makabresku
Photography - 40 x 40 cm Photography - 15.7 x 15.7 inch
$877
Sein dévoilé
Emmanuelle Barbaras
Photography - 24 x 36 x 1 cm Photography - 9.4 x 14.2 x 0.4 inch
$792
Les Acrobates I
Uwe Ommer
Photography - 90.2 x 69.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 35.5 x 27.5 x 0.1 inch
$3,500
Les Acrobates II
Uwe Ommer
Photography - 90.2 x 69.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 35.5 x 27.5 x 0.1 inch
$3,500
Les Acrobates III
Uwe Ommer
Photography - 90.2 x 69.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 35.5 x 27.5 x 0.1 inch
$3,500
Les Acrobates V
Uwe Ommer
Photography - 90.2 x 69.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 35.5 x 27.5 x 0.1 inch
$3,500
Obra del Grupo Danza del Alma, Cuba
Sonia Almaguer
Photography - 32 x 24 x 2 cm Photography - 12.6 x 9.4 x 0.8 inch
$1,358
Sára + dívka (Sarah and girl)
Jan Saudek
Photography - 17.9 x 13.9 cm Photography - 7 x 5.5 inch
$1,697
De la série : La beauté des femmes - ingénieux
Matthias Leupold
Photography - 18 x 23 cm Photography - 7.1 x 9.1 inch
$1,358
De la série : La beauté des femmes - aspiration
Matthias Leupold
Photography - 18 x 23 cm Photography - 7.1 x 9.1 inch
$1,358
La Coquette
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$888
Human Being 1564 - Purity - Un Anonyme Nu Dans Le Salon
Idan Wizen
Photography - 80 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 47.2 x 0 inch
$2,829
H0396 - The farmer
Idan Wizen
Photography - 90 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$3,112
H0390 - The flop
Idan Wizen
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$2,829
Magic lines
Dmitry Savchenko
Photography - 50 x 35 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 13.8 x 0.4 inch
$1,075
Elle a bon dos
Jean-Pierre Fleury
Photography - 60 x 60 x 3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 1.2 inch
$1,018
De la série : La beauté des femmes - thoughtfull
Matthias Leupold
Photography - 20 x 15 cm Photography - 7.9 x 5.9 inch
$1,358
Noir ou Blanc META Graphic 01
Jean-Claude Byandb
Photography - 60 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 17.7 x 0 inch
$690
Modern Lovers
Stéphane Gizard
Photography - 80 x 120 x 1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 47.2 x 0.4 inch
$3,395
Adventure
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$888
La brezza
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$888
Thai au coucher de soleil
The opium smoking white elephant
Photography - 60 x 40 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 inch
$905
Diu nu de pleine lune
The opium smoking white elephant
Photography - 40 x 60 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 inch
$905
Joy nu de pleine lune
The opium smoking white elephant
Photography - 60 x 40 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 inch
$905
Blanc et noir (Islande)
Vincent Citot
Photography - 35 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 13.8 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$849
Arolla (Suisse)
Vincent Citot
Photography - 40 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$849
Would you swim with me? XII
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 61.8 x 70 x 0.1 cm Photography - 24.3 x 27.6 x 0 inch
$215
Would you swim with me? XI
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 52.5 x 70 x 0.1 cm Photography - 20.7 x 27.6 x 0 inch
$215
Would you swim with me? X
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 52.5 x 70 x 0.1 cm Photography - 20.7 x 27.6 x 0 inch
$215
Play of light
Lesya Rozova
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.01 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$1,358
Pouvoir et soumission
Joël Gros
Photography - 50 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$679
Femmes et leurs gros bébés
Emmanuelle Barbaras
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.2 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
$792
Distant sky
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
$736 $662
Ambre au ballon
Arnaud Ele
Photography - 42 x 29.7 x 0.2 cm Photography - 16.5 x 11.7 x 0.1 inch
$396
Superfície de l’última dispersió (The Surface of the Last Scatter)
Martí Sala
Photography - 30 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$905
Hallazgo en la azotea
Martí Sala
Photography - 30 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,018
Let There Be Light! #14
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$215
Let There Be Light! #11
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$215
De la série : La beauté des femmes - Siesta
Matthias Leupold
Photography - 15 x 23 cm Photography - 5.9 x 9.1 inch
$1,358
De la série : La beauté des femmes - Dido
Matthias Leupold
Photography - 18 x 24 cm Photography - 7.1 x 9.4 inch
$1,358
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!