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Mémoire de JingDeZhen
Feng Hatat
Photography - 60 x 90 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0.4 inch
$561
Ombre et lumière 7
Feng Hatat
Photography - 70 x 50 x 2 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
$673
Mémoire de JingDeZhen
Feng Hatat
Photography - 32 x 48 x 1 cm Photography - 12.6 x 18.9 x 0.4 inch
$673
Mémoire de JingDeZhen
Feng Hatat
Photography - 32 x 48 x 1 cm Photography - 12.6 x 18.9 x 0.4 inch
$673
Mémoire de JingDeZhen
Feng Hatat
Photography - 60 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$561
Mémoire de JingDeZhen
Feng Hatat
Photography - 50 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$673
Ombre et lumière #5
Feng Hatat
Photography - 48 x 32 x 1 cm Photography - 18.9 x 12.6 x 0.4 inch
$673
Ombre et lumière II
Feng Hatat
Photography - 48 x 32 x 1 cm Photography - 18.9 x 12.6 x 0.4 inch
$561
L'Enfer me ment (36)
Richard Laillier
Fine Art Drawings - 25 x 15 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 9.8 x 5.9 x 0.4 inch
$898
Le tre Vespe, 1962 - Roma
Fabrizio La Torre
Photography - 70 x 110 x 0.3 cm Photography - 27.6 x 43.3 x 0.1 inch
$2,569
Mémoire de JingDeZhen Village 7
Feng Hatat
Photography - 40 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$673
Mémoire de JingDeZhen village 6
Feng Hatat
Photography - 40 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$673
Mémoire de JingDeZhen Village 4
Feng Hatat
Photography - 60 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$673
Mémoire de JingDeZhen village YaoLi
Feng Hatat
Photography - 40 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$673
Mémoire de JingDeZhen village II
Feng Hatat
Photography - 40 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$673
Mémoire de JingDeZhen village
Feng Hatat
Photography - 40 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$673
La montée des eaux
Fabienne Cresens
Photography - 40 x 40 x 4 cm Photography - 15.7 x 15.7 x 1.6 inch
$561
Too deep, too closely #5 (from too deep, too closely series)
Saverio Filioli Uranio
Painting - 144 x 73 x 1.8 cm Painting - 56.7 x 28.7 x 0.7 inch
$763
Terra Incognita - Moonscape
Guillaume Pépy
Photography - 70 x 105 cm Photography - 27.6 x 41.3 inch
$2,188
Reflecting landscape 01
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 80 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 11.8 x 0 inch
$1,571
My husband's story
Samuel Cueto
Photography - 50 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,010
Multiplications
Samuel Cueto
Photography - 40 x 50 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,010
Boyz N the Hood
Samuel Cueto
Photography - 50 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,010
Amongst the camels
John Kenny
Photography - 67 x 45 x 2 cm Photography - 26.4 x 17.7 x 0.8 inch
$2,551
Storm Series (Ref 844)
Jaanika Peerna
Fine Art Drawings - 46 x 46 cm Fine Art Drawings - 18.1 x 18.1 inch
$1,269
Men Legs One: From Motion Series
Ricky Cohete
Photography - 91.4 x 61 x 0.3 cm Photography - 36 x 24 x 0.1 inch
$2,222
Les Dames du Lac
Marie Dorigny
Photography - 38 x 58 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15 x 22.8 x 0 inch
$1,571
Spiritualized (1994)
Kevin Westenberg
Photography - 101 x 76 cm Photography - 39.8 x 29.9 inch
$4,465
Architectural Extract N.10 - Archi-Lines Series
Anna Levesh
Photography - 100 x 75 cm Photography - 39.4 x 29.5 inch
$998
Architectural Extract N.3 - Archi-Lines Series
Anna Levesh
Photography - 99.6 x 79 cm Photography - 39.2 x 31.1 inch
$998
Iggy Pop - Ungano's Club, first NYC gig 1970
Glen Craig
Photography - 40.6 x 50.8 x 5.1 cm Photography - 16 x 20 x 2 inch
$1,500
Iggy Pop, Stooge Hall, Ann Arbor, MI, 1969
Glen Craig
Photography - 50.8 x 40.6 x 5.1 cm Photography - 20 x 16 x 2 inch
$1,500
Iggy Pop - Ungano's Club, first NYC gig 1970
Glen Craig
Photography - 40.6 x 50.8 x 5.1 cm Photography - 16 x 20 x 2 inch
$1,500
Miles Davis, NYC, 1970 IV
Glen Craig
Photography - 40.6 x 50.8 x 5.1 cm Photography - 16 x 20 x 2 inch
$1,500
Miles Davis, NYC, 1970
Glen Craig
Photography - 40.6 x 50.8 x 5.1 cm Photography - 16 x 20 x 2 inch
$1,500
Richard Ashcroft (1999)
Kevin Westenberg
Photography - 101 x 76 cm Photography - 39.8 x 29.9 inch
$4,465
Red Hot Chili Peppers (1992)
Kevin Westenberg
Photography - 101 x 76 cm Photography - 39.8 x 29.9 inch
$4,465
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!