Black and white
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fluctuaT
Louis Blanc
Photography - 70 x 70 x 0.1 cm Photography - 27.6 x 27.6 x 0 inch
$3,395 $3,055
Angel IX
Laurence Winram
Photography - 84.1 x 59.4 x 0.2 cm Photography - 33.1 x 23.4 x 0.1 inch
$639
Nikita III
Laurence Winram
Photography - 84.1 x 59.4 x 0.2 cm Photography - 33.1 x 23.4 x 0.1 inch
$639
Photographie "Arche"
Franck Leclerc
Photography - 40 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$781
Matthew Barney rehearsing Drawing Restraint 7, NYC. Diptych
Michael James O'Brien
Photography - 43.2 x 61 x 0.3 cm Photography - 17 x 24 x 0.1 inch
$4,000
Dancing class
Cheraine Collette
Photography - 67 x 100 x 3 cm Photography - 26.4 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
$3,395
Nude elephant dust
Cheraine Collette
Photography - 80 x 90 x 2 cm Photography - 31.5 x 35.4 x 0.8 inch
$5,092
Unnatural Causes XXXI
Jeff Robb
Photography - 75 x 75 x 2 cm Photography - 29.5 x 29.5 x 0.8 inch
$10,185
Georgianna
Thierry Le Gouès
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$4,753
Georgianna
Thierry Le Gouès
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$4,753
1915 Le bustier de NINA
Eugène Druet
Photography - 43 x 54 x 0.5 cm Photography - 16.9 x 21.3 x 0.2 inch
$3,338
1915 Rêveuse LOU dreaming
Eugène Druet
Photography - 54 x 43 cm Photography - 21.3 x 16.9 inch
$3,338
1915 La Joueuse de cartes Cards player Lady
Eugène Druet
Photography - 43 x 54 cm Photography - 16.9 x 21.3 inch
$3,904
1915 Lascive LEA Lascivious
Eugène Druet
Photography - 43 x 53 cm Photography - 16.9 x 20.9 inch
$4,470
1915 Nue au perroquet Nude with parrot
Eugène Druet
Photography - 43 x 54 cm Photography - 16.9 x 21.3 inch
$5,602
Sisyphe (Islande)
Vincent Citot
Photography - 40 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$849
Détente en famille
Jean-Louis Toutain
Sculpture - 30 x 68 x 38 cm Sculpture - 11.8 x 26.8 x 15 inch
$20,369
Flowering
Rossella Mercedes
Fine Art Drawings - 30 x 24 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.8 x 9.4 x 0 inch
$147
Lady on Raft
Tran Huy Hoan
Photography - 76.2 x 104.1 x 0.6 cm Photography - 30 x 41 x 0.25 inch
$4,000
Naïade
Gino Charpentier
Fine Art Drawings - 65 x 50 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 25.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$453
Reflets dans l’eau
Gino Charpentier
Fine Art Drawings - 65 x 50 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 25.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$453
Jambe en l’air
Gino Charpentier
Fine Art Drawings - 65 x 50 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 25.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$453
Aphrodite
Gino Charpentier
Fine Art Drawings - 65 x 50 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 25.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$453
More Sketches of Spain - for Miles Davis
George Condo
Print - 130 x 97 cm Print - 51.2 x 38.2 inch
$7,356
Black Beauty
Klaus Roethlisberger
Photography - 70 x 52 x 0.2 cm Photography - 27.6 x 20.5 x 0.1 inch
$611
Patrick Dupond
Klaus Roethlisberger
Photography - 70 x 57 x 0.2 cm Photography - 27.6 x 22.4 x 0.1 inch
$1,358
Tropical Bath
Thomas Louvagny
Photography - 60 x 45 x 3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 17.7 x 1.2 inch
$736
Around the corner
Thomas Louvagny
Photography - 60 x 45 x 3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 17.7 x 1.2 inch
$736
Les Femmes au Pouvoir
Thomas Louvagny
Photography - 60 x 45 x 3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 17.7 x 1.2 inch
$736
Strippers in a Club, Atlanta, Georgia
Leonard Freed
Photography - 27.9 x 35.6 cm Photography - 11 x 14 inch
$5,000
Divadlo na Prádle
Lukas Dvorak
Photography - 61 x 81.3 x 0.3 cm Photography - 24 x 32 x 0.1 inch
$1,800
Ombre
Gabriel Quirant - Pidet
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$566
Bettie Page ‘Two- Peace Leopard Print Suit', Key Biscayne, FL
Bunny Yeager
Photography - 50.8 x 40.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 20 x 16 x 0.1 inch
$5,000
Untitled- One of a kind pencil and gold paint figure drawing on paper
Juan C. Estrada
Fine Art Drawings - 99.1 x 67.3 cm Fine Art Drawings - 39 x 26.5 inch
$1,200
Series: The skin of Mars - Skin 6
Antonio Briceño
Photography - 60 x 50 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 inch
$2,829
Série Backstage - F0597 – The alien
Idan Wizen
Photography - 30 x 20 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 7.9 x 0 inch
$170
Underbreast Covered
Tony Potts
Photography - 40.6 x 55.9 x 0.1 cm Photography - 16 x 22 x 0 inch
$1,900
CH.Vision 1619
Yves Bordes Lapeyre
Photography - 60 x 45 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 17.7 x 0.4 inch
$611
Untitled
Mauricio Velez
Photography - 152.4 x 101.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 inch
$3,500
Nus rouges - Picasso Grand Palais
Pierre Collin
Print - 90 x 63 x 1 cm Print - 35.4 x 24.8 x 0.4 inch
$792
Pes AC MaNuS
Louis Blanc
Photography - 70 x 70 x 0.1 cm Photography - 27.6 x 27.6 x 0 inch
$7,356 $6,988
CoRpus AC maNus
Louis Blanc
Photography - 70 x 70 x 0.1 cm Photography - 27.6 x 27.6 x 0 inch
$7,356 $6,988
Fusione
Riccardo Buonafede
Fine Art Drawings - 20.4 x 28.9 cm Fine Art Drawings - 8 x 11.4 inch
$283
It's in your own mind
Rossella Mercedes
Fine Art Drawings - 24 x 17 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 9.4 x 6.7 x 0 inch
$89
Elevation
Rossella Mercedes
Fine Art Drawings - 25 x 19.2 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 9.8 x 7.6 x 0 inch
$102
Perfect Body
Klaus Roethlisberger
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$611
Aperture Rapture
Hollie Miller
Photography - 27.2 x 47.5 x 0.2 cm Photography - 10.7 x 18.7 x 0.1 inch
$962
Sisyphe II
Patrick Strajnic
Photography - 50 x 50 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,460
Don't Tell Mamma #5
Koray Erkaya
Photography - 81.3 x 119.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 32 x 47 x 0.1 inch
$5,000
Langue de danseuse
Arnaud Baumann
Photography - 24 x 16 x 0.1 cm Photography - 9.4 x 6.3 x 0 inch
$339
There are no coincidences II
Mary Rozzi
Photography - 50 x 40 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 inch
$1,358
There are no coincidences I
Mary Rozzi
Photography - 50 x 40 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 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!