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No77 Spirit
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 91 x 91 x 0.1 cm Photography - 35.8 x 35.8 x 0 inch
$1,632
Femme rêvée à la pierre
Michel Verna
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0.1 inch
$1,051
Hangar backstage
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 80 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$277
The Couple Out The Window
Tyler Shields
Photography - 38.1 x 50.8 cm Photography - 15 x 20 inch
$2,500
Chrissie Hynde, Paris
Pierre Terrasson
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$1,660
André Villers Photograph of Picasso
André Villers
Photography - 40.64 x 50.8 x 0.1 cm Photography - 16 x 20 x 0 inch
$3,873
Carla Bruni - Gitane - dyptique
Philippe Robert
Photography - 105 x 145 x 1 cm Photography - 41.3 x 57.1 x 0.4 inch
$13,831
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao 1
Antoine Kubler
Photography - 42 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm Photography - 16.5 x 11.7 x 0 inch
$277
Melancholic Tulip
André Kertész
Photography - 30 x 23 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 9.1 x 0.4 inch
$1,660
Upper Glasses Royal Ascot
Arthur Steel
Photography - 48 x 61 x 1 cm Photography - 18.9 x 24 x 0.4 inch
$2,019
Botanical Studies - The B-Sides - No. 09
Matthias Conrad
Photography - 75 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 29.5 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$1,936
L'Alpe du Lauzet, Hautes-Alpes, de la série Sur les chemins du Briançonnais
José Nicolas
Photography - 36 x 36 x 0.1 cm Photography - 14.2 x 14.2 x 0 inch
$553
Keith Richards
John Rowlands
Photography - 40.6 x 50.8 x 5.1 cm Photography - 16 x 20 x 2 inch
$1,350
Bilbao 30/09/2010 15:22h. (Identity Promises Series)
Imanol Marrodán
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$941 $706
Emily - Le Bataclan - Concert de Jukebox Champions - Paris 2014 - série Photo Noir et Blanc
Lucas Perrigot
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$321
City Palace. Udaipur. Inde.
Olivier Perrin
Photography - 30 x 45 x 0.2 cm Photography - 11.8 x 17.7 x 0.1 inch
$830
Rolling Stones (1998)
Kevin Westenberg
Photography - 40 x 51 cm Photography - 15.7 x 20.1 inch
$1,958
Shoot again (887)
Yves Cham
Photography - 45 x 60 x 0.01 cm Photography - 17.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$1,328
Ali In Training
Russell McPhedran
Photography - 76 x 101 x 0.001 cm Photography - 29.9 x 39.8 x 0 inch
$1,051
Les femmes guerrières
Charles Bayonne
Photography - 80 x 60 x 0.5 cm Photography - 31.5 x 23.6 x 0.2 inch
$1,328
Marilyn Glamour 2010
Russell Young
Photography - 92 x 72 x 2 cm Photography - 36.2 x 28.3 x 0.8 inch
$18,810
Last London Bus
Bert Hardy
Photography - 31 x 41 x 0.01 cm Photography - 12.2 x 16.1 x 0 inch
$1,217
L'Escalier
Christophe Battifero
Photography - 50 x 75 x 0.5 cm Photography - 19.7 x 29.5 x 0.2 inch
$642
Cigarette et cendrier
Pierre Boillon
Photography - 60 x 42 x 3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 16.5 x 1.2 inch
$597
The girl from Seville #4 - Slices of Life Series
Anna Levesh
Photography - 100 x 75 cm Photography - 39.4 x 29.5 inch
$985
Tenerife, Anaga Forest
Fabien Olart
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$553
Yosemite National Park. USA on the road
Tina Smeraldi
Photography - 40 x 60 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 inch
$1,936
Sci sull'acqua Venezia
Vittorio Pavan
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$719
Silver
Kalliope Amorphous
Photography - 50.8 x 40.6 x 0.1 cm Photography - 20 x 16 x 0.05 inch
$2,200
Bruma Portfolio
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 35.6 x 27.9 x 5.1 cm Photography - 14 x 11 x 2 inch
$3,000
L'envol
Philippe Grincourt
Photography - 39 x 59 x 0.3 cm Photography - 15.4 x 23.2 x 0.1 inch
$1,051
Sans Titre
Jean-François Spricigo
Photography - 27.5 x 27.5 x 1 cm Photography - 10.8 x 10.8 x 0.4 inch
$2,877
Noir 01 “Black River”
Hengki Koentjoro
Photography - 43 x 43 x 0.02 cm Photography - 16.9 x 16.9 x 0 inch
$1,051
Gamemaker
Drew Doggett
Photography - 66.7 x 91.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 26.25 x 36 x 0.1 inch
$2,500
Rome : Dark Corner
Ellie Sass (Sassayiannis)
Photography - 50 x 70 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 27.6 x 0 inch
$531
Light as a stone
Chiara Mazzocchi
Photography - 50 x 70 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.7 x 27.6 x 0.1 inch
$548
Without title (TP09AP11)
Teresa Pera
Painting - 76.5 x 58 x 0.1 cm Painting - 30.1 x 22.8 x 0 inch
$1,084
Untitled XXXIII. From the Series Chiromorphose
Nico Baixas / Gos-com-fuig
Photography - 99.8 x 99.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 39.3 x 39.3 x 0.1 inch
$2,750
Nature-morte aux pinceaux
Pierre Brochet
Photography - 30 x 40 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 inch
$498
Still Cassius Clay V
Gerry Cranham
Photography - 30 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 17.7 x 0 inch
$1,095
Ki no kioku (Memory of tree), Ibuta-ji, Matsusaka city, Mie prefecture, 2023-11, N°11
Teddy Peix
Photography - 28 x 20 x 0.01 cm Photography - 11 x 7.9 x 0 inch
$432
Things aren't always what they seem
On Hansen
Photography - 69 x 100 x 0.3 cm Photography - 27.2 x 39.4 x 0.1 inch
$1,500
Urbain brutalisme - Digital Art digigraphie
Claire Giraudeau
Photography - 40 x 30 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 inch
$166
Untitled from the series Shifty Packets
Colleen Wolstenholme
Fine Art Drawings - 28 x 36 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11 x 14.2 inch
$900
Calligraphing en l'air #6
Cody Choi
Photography - 75 x 50 x 1.5 cm Photography - 29.5 x 19.7 x 0.6 inch
$1,944
Anonymous Face
Darios Tossou
Photography - 90 x 60 x 0.8 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0.3 inch
$2,047
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!