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Danseuse libre
Arnaud Baumann
Photography - 80 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 47.2 x 0 inch
$3,282
Langue de danseuse
Arnaud Baumann
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$3,282
De la série : La beauté des femmes - On the warpath
Matthias Leupold
Photography - 20 x 15 cm Photography - 7.9 x 5.9 inch
$1,358
De la série : La beauté des femmes - upwards
Matthias Leupold
Photography - 15 x 20 cm Photography - 5.9 x 7.9 inch
$1,358
De la série : La beauté des femmes - coquetry
Matthias Leupold
Photography - 15 x 20 cm Photography - 5.9 x 7.9 inch
$1,358
Let There Be Light! #4
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$215
Déchirure Dibond
Cédric Brion Studio Clavicule Pics
Photography - 90 x 60 x 0.5 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0.2 inch
$1,130
Untitled (Identity promises series)
Imanol Marrodán
Photography - 40 x 80 x 0.2 cm Photography - 15.7 x 31.5 x 0.1 inch
$1,924
Summertime en Valle Oscuru (Identity Promises Series)
Imanol Marrodán
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$962
Deux bouches femmes
Emmanuelle Barbaras
Photography - 28 x 42 x 1 cm Photography - 11 x 16.5 x 0.4 inch
$792
Would You Swim with Me? V
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 70 x 52.5 x 0.1 cm Photography - 27.6 x 20.7 x 0 inch
$215
Would You swim with Me?
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 30 x 90 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 35.4 x 0 inch
$215
Black and white on skate
Themanfromthefuture Urano
Painting - 105 x 33 x 0.1 cm Painting - 41.3 x 13 x 0 inch
$441
Saltan Maroc
Emmanuelle Barbaras
Photography - 45 x 38 x 1 cm Photography - 17.7 x 15 x 0.4 inch
$792
Nuque homme
Emmanuelle Barbaras
Photography - 40 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$792
Fesse homme
Emmanuelle Barbaras
Photography - 36 x 53 x 1 cm Photography - 14.2 x 20.9 x 0.4 inch
$792
Femme allongée
Emmanuelle Barbaras
Photography - 24 x 36 x 1 cm Photography - 9.4 x 14.2 x 0.4 inch
$792
Homme sous moustiquaire
Emmanuelle Barbaras
Photography - 43 x 28 x 1 cm Photography - 16.9 x 11 x 0.4 inch
$792
Euphoria
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$2,965
Secret partagé
Maryse-Anne Couteau
Fine Art Drawings - 15 x 15 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 5.9 x 5.9 x 0.4 inch
$1,811
La lune n'a rien à craindre des loups #11
VAM / Jean-Pierre Gilson
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$1,924
La lune n'a rien à craindre des loups #10
VAM / Jean-Pierre Gilson
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$1,924
La lune n'a rien à craindre des loups #8
VAM / Jean-Pierre Gilson
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$1,924
La lune n'a rien à craindre des loups #7
VAM / Jean-Pierre Gilson
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$1,924
La lune n'a rien à craindre des loups #4
VAM / Jean-Pierre Gilson
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$1,924
La lune n'a rien à craindre des loups #5
VAM / Jean-Pierre Gilson
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$1,924
Form elegance
Dmitry Savchenko
Photography - 150 x 100 x 0.1 cm Photography - 59.1 x 39.4 x 0 inch
$1,686
Bridge of sighs. Barcelona
Dmitry Savchenko
Photography - 66 x 46 x 1 cm Photography - 26 x 18.1 x 0.4 inch
$1,686
Jambes Blanches
Jean-Pierre Fleury
Photography - 80 x 60 x 3 cm Photography - 31.5 x 23.6 x 1.2 inch
$1,301
Secret d'alcove
Jean-Pierre Fleury
Photography - 80 x 60 x 3 cm Photography - 31.5 x 23.6 x 1.2 inch
$1,301
Sugoi fairy Yoshii fairy
Akiza
Painting - 120 x 115 x 10 cm Painting - 47.2 x 45.3 x 3.9 inch
$3,848
E-motion
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$888
No22 SPIRIT Series
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 100 x 100 x 2.5 cm Photography - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1 inch
$4,119
Light Slide
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$2,965
E-motion
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 80 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 47.2 x 0 inch
$2,965
Adventure
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 80 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 47.2 x 0 inch
$2,965
Bloom
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$2,965
Three Graces
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 47.2 x 0 inch
$2,965
Marche des Méréides
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 60 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 17.7 x 0 inch
$888
Anais
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$2,965
La brezza
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$2,965
Panther Play
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 47.2 x 0 inch
$2,965
No44 SPIRIT Series
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 47.2 x 0 inch
$2,965
Le Minou
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$2,965
Il latte
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$2,965
Banc de sable
Lesya Rozova
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 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!