Black and white
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Silver
Kalliope Amorphous
Photography - 50.8 x 40.6 x 0.1 cm Photography - 20 x 16 x 0.05 inch
$2,200
The St Andrews Club
Pauline Corto
Photography - 57 x 40 x 0.3 cm Photography - 22.4 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
$539
Mister Frey (Donald N.)
Pauline Corto
Photography - 57 x 40 x 0.3 cm Photography - 22.4 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
$539
Capri 1973's mirror
Pauline Corto
Photography - 57 x 40 x 0.3 cm Photography - 22.4 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
$539
Capri 1973's light
Pauline Corto
Photography - 57 x 40 x 0.3 cm Photography - 22.4 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
$539
Iggy Pop - La Villette 86
Pierre Terrasson
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$1,571
Savant N.2 - Reflects & Transparencies Series
Anna Levesh
Photography - 78.5 x 50 cm Photography - 30.9 x 19.7 inch
$886
Marilyn in Vogue (1962)
Bert Stern
Photography - 25 x 21 x 1 cm Photography - 9.8 x 8.3 x 0.4 inch
$1,784
Inde005. Agra. Taj Mahal. Inde.
Olivier Perrin
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.2 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.1 inch
$505
Coluche - Iconic portraits
Arnaud Baumann
Photography - 90 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$1,571
Ki no kioku (Memory of tree), ise-jingu, Ise city, Mie prefecture, 2023-11, n°1
Teddy Peix
Photography - 17 x 20 x 0.01 cm Photography - 6.7 x 7.9 x 0 inch
$303
OMO: Untitled 15
Drew Doggett
Photography - 45.7 x 68.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 18 x 27 x 0.1 inch
$1,650
OMO: Untitled 2
Drew Doggett
Photography - 45.7 x 68.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 18 x 27 x 0.1 inch
$1,900
OMO: Untitled 32
Drew Doggett
Photography - 43.2 x 68.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 17 x 27 x 0.1 inch
$1,650
OMO: Untitled 37
Drew Doggett
Photography - 43.2 x 68.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 17 x 27 x 0.1 inch
$1,650
Nailed it Series No.83
Sumit Mehndiratta
Sculpture - 64 x 64 x 4 cm Sculpture - 25.2 x 25.2 x 1.6 inch
$954 $811
Intellect
Amrita Bilimoria
Photography - 88.9 x 98 x 0.5 cm Photography - 35 x 38.6 x 0.2 inch
$3,000
Children Shuttle
Hugo Gus Babey
Photography - 70 x 120 x 0.2 cm Photography - 27.6 x 47.2 x 0.1 inch
$1,122
El caballero
James Sparshatt
Photography - 35 x 35 x 1 cm Photography - 13.8 x 13.8 x 0.4 inch
$1,040
Urban structure 2
Alessandra Bisi
Painting - 120 x 80 x 2 cm Painting - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0.8 inch
$2,636
Hombre de la Luna
James Sparshatt
Photography - 50 x 50 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
$668
Horror Vacui II, Black Doodle
Marie Julou (Tina McCallan)
Painting - 61 x 50 x 1.5 cm Painting - 24 x 19.7 x 0.6 inch
$1,122
May the sky be my testimony
Ana Zegheanu
Photography - 20 x 20 x 0.02 cm Photography - 7.9 x 7.9 x 0 inch
$180
OMO: Untitled 19
Drew Doggett
Photography - 45.7 x 68.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 18 x 27 x 0.1 inch
$1,650
OMO: Untitled 20
Drew Doggett
Photography - 45.7 x 68.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 18 x 27 x 0.1 inch
$1,650
Ali Patterson II
Gerry Cranham
Photography - 30 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 17.7 x 0 inch
$864
Palm Light Tree
Hugo Gus Babey
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$954 $858
Oh Lord won't you buy me...
Hugo Gus Babey
Photography - 67.4 x 120 x 0.2 cm Photography - 26.5 x 47.2 x 0.1 inch
$1,066
Joséphine Hopper
Pauline Corto
Photography - 57 x 40 x 0.3 cm Photography - 22.4 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
$539
Veris
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 47.2 x 0 inch
$2,939
Paris confinement 4
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 30 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,066
Last man standing
James Sparshatt
Photography - 40 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$778
Revolutionary Woman With Brush
Shepard Fairey (Obey)
Print - 61 x 46 cm Print - 24 x 18.1 inch
$1,672
Les architectures de l'ombre II.XXXIII (1)
Geraldine Wilcke
Photography - 60 x 90 x 3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 x 1.2 inch
$2,693
Manhattan et le Brooklyn Bridge, Novembre 1955 - New York
Fabrizio La Torre
Photography - 60 x 42 x 0.3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 16.5 x 0.1 inch
$1,851
Les amoureux du pavillon Baltard désaffecté
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 36 x 24 x 0.3 cm Photography - 14.2 x 9.4 x 0.1 inch
$1,122
Contemplation
Mourad Cherifi
Photography - 30 x 45 x 0.02 cm Photography - 11.8 x 17.7 x 0 inch
$1,346
Dear Irving...
Mourad Cherifi
Photography - 45 x 30 x 0.02 cm Photography - 17.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
$1,346
Queen / la corde cassée / La Villette / Paris
Pierre Terrasson
Photography - 40 x 50 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 inch
$1,683
Sans titre (9)
Julien Drogoul
Photography - 30 x 45 x 0.3 cm Photography - 11.8 x 17.7 x 0.1 inch
$280
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!