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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
$279
Untitled 1
Juan Pablo Castro
Photography - 61 x 91.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 24 x 36 x 0.1 inch
$3,000
Richard Harris – Malta, 1973
David Steen
Photography - 86 x 61 x 0.01 cm Photography - 33.9 x 24 x 0 inch
$1,934
David Bowie - The Archer
John Rowlands
Photography - 50.8 x 66 x 5.1 cm Photography - 20 x 26 x 2 inch
$2,000
Céréales 3
Sébastien Chauchot
Photography - 40 x 35 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 13.8 x 0.4 inch
$392
Série: photographie concrète numérique - IMG_2148 31.05.2012
Roger Humbert
Photography - 30 x 24 cm Photography - 11.8 x 9.4 inch
$2,018
Defining Shadows II
Maureen J Haldeman
Photography - 101.6 x 76.2 x 0.6 cm Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.25 inch
$1,400
Breathe It In
Rika Maja Duevel
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$1,357
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
$392
1972 Fish Eye Autoportrait
Florian Hunger-Pegof
Photography - 30 x 20 x 0.5 cm Photography - 11.8 x 7.9 x 0.2 inch
$2,130
Repos II - série oiseaux
Henry Ausloos
Photography - 40 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$1,542
Abstraction urbaine #5
Guillaume Chevallard
Photography - 49 x 69 x 2.9 cm Photography - 19.3 x 27.2 x 1.1 inch
$1,345
Andy Warhol and Keith Haring
Christopher Makos
Photography - 38.1 x 48.3 cm Photography - 15 x 19 inch
$4,500
Senegal 2020, Horizon des événements
Hubert Lebaudy
Photography - 60 x 80 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0.4 inch
$1,906
Catherine Deneuve, France
Raymond Depardon
Photography - 61 x 45.7 x 5.1 cm Photography - 24 x 18 x 2 inch
$1,350
Mostar Bridge
Ludovic Careme
Photography - 40 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$1,513
Zitouna Mosque
Bettino Craxi
Photography - 49 x 53 x 0.4 cm Photography - 19.3 x 20.9 x 0.2 inch
$617
Manufactura 3
Oriol Texidor
Photography - 40 x 50 x 7 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 x 2.8 inch
$1,413
In-between B1
Nikolay Stefanov
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.2 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0.1 inch
$1,581
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
$2,130
Kano 1975
John Craven né Conte
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.5 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.2 inch
$1,065
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
$1,794
L'homme brun Dark haired man
Christer Hamp
Photography - 30 x 21 cm Photography - 11.8 x 8.3 inch
$2,130
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
Twickenham Streaker
Ian Bradshaw
Photography - 30 x 42.5 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 16.7 x 0 inch
$2,186
Upper Glasses Royal Ascot
Arthur Steel
Photography - 48 x 61 x 1 cm Photography - 18.9 x 24 x 0.4 inch
$2,046
Sans Titre (Mains positives, Mains négatives)
David Prudhomme
Print - 78 x 114 cm Print - 30.7 x 44.9 inch
$1,121
Shoot again (887)
Yves Cham
Photography - 45 x 60 x 0.01 cm Photography - 17.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$1,345
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
$617
The wild coast
Andrew Lever
Photography - 101.6 x 152.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 inch
$951
Ali In Training
Russell McPhedran
Photography - 76 x 101 x 0.001 cm Photography - 29.9 x 39.8 x 0 inch
$1,065
Untitled, Tbilisi
Luca Battaglia
Photography - 60 x 90 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0 inch
$1,121
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
$1,794
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
$1,401
Masque 1972 Mask. Masque de la vie Life mask
Mirabelle Dors
Fine Art Drawings - 60 x 100 x 0.3 cm Fine Art Drawings - 23.6 x 39.4 x 0.1 inch
$1,401
Telltale
Solomon Jamy Brown
Photography - 70 x 50 x 0.05 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$1,288
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!