Black and white
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Páramo Chingaza and Caballo el Palmar, Pigment Prints
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 110 x 183.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 43.3 x 72.4 x 0.1 inch
$4,000
Ebony Jet (Girlfriend), NYC
Michael James O'Brien
Photography - 152.4 x 101.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 inch
$8,000
Entrer dans la lumière
Dominique Jullien
Photography - 20 x 30 x 1 cm Photography - 7.9 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
$398 $358
Bottle, Belém do Pará
Guilherme Licurgo
Photography - 88.9 x 58.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 35 x 23 x 0.1 inch
$2,500
Tuareg vision of intensity
John Kenny
Photography - 67 x 45 x 2 cm Photography - 26.4 x 17.7 x 0.8 inch
$2,069
Le Clou Négatif
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$1,591
Mont Blanc vu de Cordon
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$1,591
Vue du Col des Montets
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$1,080
Nossa Senhora da Rocha Church
Gonçalo Martins
Photography - 36 x 29 x 0.1 cm Photography - 14.2 x 11.4 x 0 inch
$239
Storm Series (Ref 845)
Jaanika Peerna
Fine Art Drawings - 46 x 46 cm Fine Art Drawings - 18.1 x 18.1 inch
$1,295
Storm Series (Ref 844)
Jaanika Peerna
Fine Art Drawings - 46 x 46 cm Fine Art Drawings - 18.1 x 18.1 inch
$1,295
The Fastest Sagittal (Peregrine Falcon)
Hugh Turvey
Photography - 80 x 80 cm Photography - 31.5 x 31.5 inch
$1,602
Marc Chagall et Bella Rosenfeld à Venise, Italie
Vittorio Pavan
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$682
Ghosts Walk - Ghosts & Aliens Series
Anna Levesh
Photography - 77.4 x 58 cm Photography - 30.5 x 22.8 inch
$1,194
N°100.150-24 19 (NG86)
Nicolas Galtier
Painting - 100 x 150 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 59.1 x 1.2 inch
$4,888
Un jour, un instant dans le temps (MR20)
Marie Aimer
Painting - 29 x 44 x 0.2 cm Painting - 11.4 x 17.3 x 0.1 inch
$1,023
Love, Light & Lines
Kamal Obat
Photography - 60 x 49.8 x 2.5 cm Photography - 23.62 x 19.6 x 1 inch
$450
Miles Davis - Jazz Hot
Arnaud Baumann
Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$1,591
César Mercedes & Tank
Arnaud Baumann
Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$1,591
La vieja guajira
James Sparshatt
Photography - 35 x 35 x 1 cm Photography - 13.8 x 13.8 x 0.4 inch
$794
Evan Dando Lemonheads
Kevin Westenberg
Photography - 51 x 40 cm Photography - 20.1 x 15.7 inch
$2,012
Music
Kalliope Amorphous
Photography - 50.8 x 40.6 x 0.1 cm Photography - 20 x 16 x 0.05 inch
$2,200
The Body Electric
Kalliope Amorphous
Photography - 50.8 x 40.6 x 0.1 cm Photography - 20 x 16 x 0.05 inch
$2,200
Persephone
Kalliope Amorphous
Photography - 50.8 x 40.6 x 0.1 cm Photography - 20 x 16 x 0.05 inch
$2,200
Marilyn in Famous Black Dress (1962)
Bert Stern
Photography - 48 x 33 x 1 cm Photography - 18.9 x 13 x 0.4 inch
$2,831
Elton John & Stevie Wonder, 1975
Bob Gruen
Photography - 50.8 x 61 x 5.1 cm Photography - 20 x 24 x 2 inch
$2,500
John Lennon and Elton John, Record Plant, NYC 1974
Bob Gruen
Photography - 50.8 x 61 x 5.1 cm Photography - 20 x 24 x 2 inch
$2,500
I am not there
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$602
Spirit of Forest
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 130 x 97 x 10 cm Photography - 51.2 x 38.2 x 3.9 inch
$4,206
Winter wind
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$773
Fickle Memory 02
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 100 x 70 x 3 cm Photography - 39.4 x 27.6 x 1.2 inch
$909
Winter wind II
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$773
Force sauvage I
Pierre Le Preux
Painting - 100 x 100 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
$2,160
Lx064. Lisbonne Portugal
Olivier Perrin
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.2 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
$341
Venise, San Giorgio
Olivier Perrin
Photography - 30 x 60 x 0.2 cm Photography - 11.8 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
$341
Série : Se faire passer pour Mao
Nathalie Daoust
Photography - 60 x 90 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 inch
$2,842
Série : Se faire passer pour Mao
Nathalie Daoust
Photography - 60 x 90 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 inch
$2,842
The capability to transform into any shape
On Hansen
Photography - 69 x 100 x 0.3 cm Photography - 27.2 x 39.4 x 0.1 inch
$1,500
Paris confinement
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 40 x 30 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
$1,080
Self Portrait… aka Yella v2.6 Dream Within A Dream
LosOtros Mj Tom
Painting - 100 x 280 x 1 cm Painting - 39.4 x 110.2 x 0.4 inch
$3,638
The Sorceresses
Kalliope Amorphous
Photography - 50.8 x 40.6 x 0.1 cm Photography - 20 x 16 x 0.05 inch
$2,200
Eden Hartford
Slim Aarons
Photography - 101 x 101 x 0.01 cm Photography - 39.8 x 39.8 x 0 inch
$4,092
Paris confinement Musée d'Orsay
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 17 x 31 x 1 cm Photography - 6.7 x 12.2 x 0.4 inch
$966
Paris confinement Pont des Arts
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 30 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,080
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!