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Miss Guy, NYC (Extra Large)
Michael James O'Brien
Photography - 203.2 x 152.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 80 x 60 x 0.1 inch
$15,000
Tabboo! (Stephen Tasjian), NYC (Extra Large)
Michael James O'Brien
Photography - 203.2 x 152.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 80 x 60 x 0.1 inch
$15,000
Lavinia Co-op, NYC (Extra Large)
Michael James O'Brien
Photography - 203.2 x 152.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 80 x 60 x 0.1 inch
$15,000
Dorian Corey, Wigstock, 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
Kabuki Starshine, Wigstock, 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
Lady Bunny, Wigstock, 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
Girlfriend, Portfolio of 9 photographs
Michael James O'Brien
Photography - 167.6 x 129.5 x 0.3 cm Photography - 66 x 51 x 0.1 inch
$15,000
The Way of the Salt Worker - 04
Bruno Palisson
Photography - 50 x 50 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 inch
$1,018
The Way of the Salt Worker - 03
Bruno Palisson
Photography - 50 x 50 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 inch
$1,018
The Way of the Salt Worker - 02
Bruno Palisson
Photography - 50 x 50 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 inch
$1,018
The Way of the Salt Worker - 01
Bruno Palisson
Photography - 50 x 50 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 inch
$1,018
Tatacoa II, Pigment Prints
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 91.9 x 110 x 0.3 cm Photography - 36.2 x 43.3 x 0.1 inch
$2,500
Untitled 18
Ghylan Safadi
Fine Art Drawings - 60 x 75 cm Fine Art Drawings - 23.6 x 29.5 inch
$2,200
Magnetic Radiation 99 (Large)
Seb Janiak
Photography - 180 x 135 cm Photography - 70.9 x 53.1 inch
$7,983
Etude de la place
Eugenia Jaeger
Fine Art Drawings - 42 x 59 cm Fine Art Drawings - 16.5 x 23.2 inch
$792
Rien de grave
Eugenia Jaeger
Fine Art Drawings - 42 x 59 cm Fine Art Drawings - 16.5 x 23.2 inch
$792
Bosque Alto Andino Chingaza
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 35.6 x 27.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 14 x 11 x 0.1 inch
$500
Rhythms of Resilience IV
Gauthier Bouret
Photography - 75 x 50 x 1 cm Photography - 29.5 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
$849
Rhythms of Resilience II
Gauthier Bouret
Photography - 75 x 50 x 1 cm Photography - 29.5 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
$849
Gaudí 30
Ivanna Alejandra Sanchez Moretti
Photography - 40 x 30 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 inch
$453
Desvelando Gaudí 013
Ivanna Alejandra Sanchez Moretti
Photography - 40 x 30 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 inch
$453
Lewis / Paris Match
Philippe Le Tellier
Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$1,811
Chirac, 1967 / Paris Match
Patrice Habans
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$1,697
Temporality 5
Edin Mustafic
Photography - 51 x 37.5 x 1.5 cm Photography - 20.1 x 14.8 x 0.6 inch
$679
Temporality 4
Edin Mustafic
Photography - 51 x 37.5 x 1.5 cm Photography - 20.1 x 14.8 x 0.6 inch
$679
Temporality 3
Edin Mustafic
Photography - 51 x 37.5 x 1.5 cm Photography - 20.1 x 14.8 x 0.6 inch
$679
Temporality 2
Edin Mustafic
Photography - 51 x 37.5 x 1.5 cm Photography - 20.1 x 14.8 x 0.6 inch
$679
Fête de L'Humanité
Walter Carone
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$849
Protea Obtusifolia
Griselda Duch
Photography - 32 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 12.6 x 17.7 x 0 inch
$785
Protea Lacticolor
Griselda Duch
Photography - 32 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 12.6 x 17.7 x 0 inch
$785
Peak Mid Winter #9
Jonathan Moore
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$998
Peak Mid Winter 8
Jonathan Moore
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$998
Peak Mid Winter #7
Jonathan Moore
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$998
Peak Mid Winter #3
Jonathan Moore
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$998
Brooklyn, Pigment Prints
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 110 x 91.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 43.3 x 36.2 x 0.1 inch
$2,500
Friday morning, six o'clock III
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 30 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 11.8 x 0 inch
$339
Friday morning, six o'clock II
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 30 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 11.8 x 0 inch
$339
Friday morning, six o'clock I
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 30 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 11.8 x 0 inch
$339
Lunar - Collection Morocco
Rodrigo
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.01 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
$1,415
Water beyond water 14
Fabrice Constant
Photography - 90 x 60 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 inch
$1,245
Water beyond water 13
Fabrice Constant
Photography - 50 x 75 cm Photography - 19.7 x 29.5 inch
$1,018
Paris, Jardin des Tuileries Fashion Week Défilé Dior
Olivia Bonnamour
Photography - 40 x 60 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 inch
$622
Silence and soul
Richard Kelley
Photography - 75 x 50 x 4 cm Photography - 29.5 x 19.7 x 1.6 inch
$1,697
Aline distance
Cahuate Milk
Photography - 120 x 80 x 1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0.4 inch
$1,041
Aiguille du Grépon
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$2,037
Glacier des Bossons sous nuages
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$2,037
L’Aiguille Verte
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$2,037
Sous le Signal Forbes
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$1,584
Le Clou Positif
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$1,584
Descente de l’arête de l’Aiguille du midi
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$1,584
Les Drus et La Verte
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$1,584
L’Aiguille de l’M
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$1,584
Vallée de Chamonix
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$1,584
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!