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Angel IX
Laurence Winram
Photography - 84.1 x 59.4 x 0.2 cm Photography - 33.1 x 23.4 x 0.1 inch
$635
Nikita III
Laurence Winram
Photography - 84.1 x 59.4 x 0.2 cm Photography - 33.1 x 23.4 x 0.1 inch
$635
Dancing class
Cheraine Collette
Photography - 67 x 100 x 3 cm Photography - 26.4 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
$3,393
Nude elephant dust
Cheraine Collette
Photography - 80 x 90 x 2 cm Photography - 31.5 x 35.4 x 0.8 inch
$5,089
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
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
Unnatural Causes XXXI
Jeff Robb
Photography - 75 x 75 x 2 cm Photography - 29.5 x 29.5 x 0.8 inch
$10,178
Georgianna
Thierry Le Gouès
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$4,750
Georgianna
Thierry Le Gouès
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$4,750
According to Francis Bacon
Jean-Claude Byandb
Photography - 50 x 50 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
$554
De la Série 'Blanc et Noir'
Carlos Antonio Sablon Perez
Painting - 80 x 60 x 4 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 1.6 inch
$6,785
Naïade
Gino Charpentier
Fine Art Drawings - 65 x 50 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 25.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$452
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
$452
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
$452
Aphrodite
Gino Charpentier
Fine Art Drawings - 65 x 50 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 25.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$452
More Sketches of Spain - for Miles Davis
George Condo
Print - 130 x 97 cm Print - 51.2 x 38.2 inch
$7,351
Détente en famille
Jean-Louis Toutain
Sculpture - 30 x 68 x 38 cm Sculpture - 11.8 x 26.8 x 15 inch
$20,356
Tropical Bath
Thomas Louvagny
Photography - 60 x 45 x 3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 17.7 x 1.2 inch
$735
Les Femmes au Pouvoir
Thomas Louvagny
Photography - 60 x 45 x 3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 17.7 x 1.2 inch
$735
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
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
$1,357
Strippers in a Club, Atlanta, Georgia
Leonard Freed
Photography - 27.9 x 35.6 cm Photography - 11 x 14 inch
$5,000
Danseuse libre
Arnaud Baumann
Photography - 80 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 47.2 x 0 inch
$3,280
Langue de danseuse
Arnaud Baumann
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$3,280
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
$565
H0396 - The farmer
Idan Wizen
Photography - 90 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$3,110
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
$2,827
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
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
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
Fusione
Riccardo Buonafede
Fine Art Drawings - 20.4 x 28.9 cm Fine Art Drawings - 8 x 11.4 inch
$283
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
$961
Sisyphe II
Patrick Strajnic
Photography - 50 x 50 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,459
Will we find a way?
Cheraine Collette
Photography - 80 x 100 cm Photography - 31.5 x 39.4 inch
$6,785
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
There are no coincidences II
Mary Rozzi
Photography - 50 x 40 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 inch
$1,357
There are no coincidences I
Mary Rozzi
Photography - 50 x 40 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 inch
$1,357
L'autre rive
Maryse-Anne Couteau
Fine Art Drawings - 20 x 20 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 7.9 x 7.9 x 0.4 inch
$2,714
Thierry - Je me souviens de mon corps d'enfant inquiet
Jean-Pierre Le Boul'ch
Painting - 117 x 89 x 4 cm Painting - 46.1 x 35 x 1.6 inch
$8,142
Garden of ethernity 3
Lukas Dvorak
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$1,950
Intimiste
Gabriel Quirant - Pidet
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$565
Prisme
Gabriel Quirant - Pidet
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$565
Fragment 2
Gabriel Quirant - Pidet
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$565
Fragment 1
Gabriel Quirant - Pidet
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$565
La lune n'a rien à craindre des loups #9
VAM / Jean-Pierre Gilson
Photography - 59.5 x 79.5 x 0.5 cm Photography - 23.4 x 31.3 x 0.2 inch
$2,488
La lune n'a rien à craindre des loups #1
VAM / Jean-Pierre Gilson
Photography - 80 x 120 x 0.5 cm Photography - 31.5 x 47.2 x 0.2 inch
$3,619
La lune n'a rien à craindre des loups #2
VAM / Jean-Pierre Gilson
Photography - 80 x 120 x 0.5 cm Photography - 31.5 x 47.2 x 0.2 inch
$3,619
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!