Black and white
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Débarcadère 2
Jean-Guy Nakars
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$282
Architecture 14
Gonçalo Martins
Photography - 19.5 x 19.5 x 0.1 cm Photography - 7.7 x 7.7 x 0 inch
$147
Reflet - Autoportrait
Valérie Abadie
Fine Art Drawings - 44 x 56 x 0.2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 17.3 x 22 x 0.1 inch
$4,527
Richard Harris – Malta, 1973
David Steen
Photography - 86 x 61 x 0.01 cm Photography - 33.9 x 24 x 0 inch
$1,952
Untitled 1
Juan Pablo Castro
Photography - 61 x 91.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 24 x 36 x 0.1 inch
$3,000
David Bowie - The Archer
John Rowlands
Photography - 50.8 x 66 x 5.1 cm Photography - 20 x 26 x 2 inch
$2,000
Série: photographie concrète numérique - IMG_2148 31.05.2012
Roger Humbert
Photography - 30 x 24 cm Photography - 11.8 x 9.4 inch
$2,037
Breathe It In
Rika Maja Duevel
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$1,369
Hendrix Contact Sheet
Robert Knight
Photography - 76.2 x 101.6 x 5.1 cm Photography - 30 x 40 x 2 inch
$1,750
1999-New Orleans - Black and White Photograph of Woman on New Orleans Street Car
Jean-Luc Fievet
Photography - 100.3 x 149.9 cm Photography - 39.5 x 59 inch
$3,900
Repos II - série oiseaux
Henry Ausloos
Photography - 40 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$1,556
H
Eugénie Lichet
Fine Art Drawings - 29.7 x 21 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.7 x 8.3 x 0 inch
$113
Abstraction urbaine #5
Guillaume Chevallard
Photography - 49 x 69 x 2.9 cm Photography - 19.3 x 27.2 x 1.1 inch
$1,358
Féraud 1970 Black Sculpture Abstraction
Albert Féraud
Photography - 40 x 28 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11 inch
$2,150
Senegal 2020, Horizon des événements
Hubert Lebaudy
Photography - 60 x 80 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0.4 inch
$1,924
Mostar Bridge
Ludovic Careme
Photography - 40 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$1,528
Catherine Deneuve, France
Raymond Depardon
Photography - 61 x 45.7 x 5.1 cm Photography - 24 x 18 x 2 inch
$1,350
Zitouna Mosque
Bettino Craxi
Photography - 49 x 53 x 0.4 cm Photography - 19.3 x 20.9 x 0.2 inch
$622
Manufactura 3
Oriol Texidor
Photography - 40 x 50 x 7 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 x 2.8 inch
$1,426
In-between B1
Nikolay Stefanov
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.2 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0.1 inch
$1,596
Love is a river
Benoit Ruff
Photography - 42 x 29.7 x 0.2 cm Photography - 16.5 x 11.7 x 0.1 inch
$396
Collection "Ville Autrement" / Paris Autrement / Windstorm
Franck Doat
Photography - 25 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 9.8 x 11.8 x 0 inch
$622
Petit labyrinthe
Paul Richard Mason
Fine Art Drawings - 21 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 8.3 x 11.7 x 0 inch
$2,150
Paris 13 ème "Olympiades Vibes N°2" (XL)
Papa Mesk
Photography - 160 x 90 x 1 cm Photography - 63 x 35.4 x 0.4 inch
$1,811
Twickenham Streaker
Ian Bradshaw
Photography - 30 x 42.5 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 16.7 x 0 inch
$2,207
Fille aux sacs poubelles
Eugenia Jaeger
Fine Art Drawings - 50 x 70 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.7 x 27.6 inch
$905
Sans Titre (Mains positives, Mains négatives)
David Prudhomme
Print - 78 x 114 cm Print - 30.7 x 44.9 inch
$1,132
Shoot again (887)
Yves Cham
Photography - 45 x 60 x 0.01 cm Photography - 17.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$1,358
Lirio roto, Obra del Grupo Danza del Alma, Cuba
Sonia Almaguer
Photography - 24 x 32 x 2 cm Photography - 9.4 x 12.6 x 0.8 inch
$1,358
Ali In Training
Russell McPhedran
Photography - 76 x 101 x 0.001 cm Photography - 29.9 x 39.8 x 0 inch
$1,075
Untitled, Tbilisi
Luca Battaglia
Photography - 60 x 90 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0 inch
$1,132
Sans titre 3
Thierry Valencin
Photography - 43 x 33 x 3 cm Photography - 16.9 x 13 x 1.2 inch
$1,188
SJWMN/JP#06 (Still just writing my name / Japan)
Patrick Hartl
Painting - 80 x 60 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
$1,811
Steve McQueen, Erfurt
François Gragnon
Photography - 61 x 45.7 x 5.1 cm Photography - 24 x 18 x 2 inch
$1,350
Alter Ego (after Roger Ballen)
Roger Ballen
Design - 80.5 x 20.5 x 1.2 cm Design - 31.7 x 8.1 x 0.5 inch
$1,415
Andy Warhol and Keith Haring
Christopher Makos
Photography - 38.1 x 48.3 cm Photography - 15 x 19 inch
$4,500
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!