White Print for Sale

In physics, white is the sum of all the colours. To the human eye, white appears to be the total absence of colour. Amongst artists, white and its many uses in art are continuously evolving and challenging those who would embrace them. Is white, then, a non-colour, or an enhancer of colours? Intangible or material? Absence or excess?

Since Antiquity, white has been appreciated for its symbolic value. In Ancient Greece, where they would paint their statues, it was a sign of incompletion, whereas the Romans believed it showed pomp and imperialist virtue. With the rise of Christianity, white was used in opposition to black in order to emphasise moral dichotomies: the pure, divine white against the darkness. In some cases, however, white was used to show sickness or death, most notably in the pallid representations of the skeletal, crucified Christ.

In the Renaissance white was used to sublimate faces and backgrounds. Da Vinci even based his sfumato technique on the soft transition from light into darkness. Throughout the history of painting, white was considered precious for its ability to reflect light. It attracts the gaze even when used in the tiniest quantities, and illuminates the subject, drawing out stunning contrasts as seen in the works of Rembrandt, or in Vermeer's famous Girl with the Pearl Earring.

With the rise of Impressionism, white was used as the brightest tone amongst shades of grey. While Manet produced canvases which were forerunners to monochromes, including The Reader, which was almost pure white, Monet delivered a stunning gradient of whites whilst recreating the snow at his home in Giverny. The first true white monochrome appeared with the arrival of Malevitch's White Square on a White Background. The artist said 'I have broken the blue boundary of colour limits, and come out into the white'.

 

Modernists were equally passionate about white and valued it incredibly highly. Miro in particular questioned the status of white on canvases. In his painting Woman, Bird and Star white is in parts boldly painted, but is also distinctive for its absence around the star. Picasso, on the other hand, explored white in conjunction with his famous coloured periods. Piero Manzoni became famous thanks to his 'achromatic' paintings, a series of canvases produced exclusively in shades of white. Moving into the 20th century, white became synonymous with minimalist abstraction. For artists like Kandinsky, white was a cosmic colour, associated with a spiritual search for the absolute, guiding the artists as he seek to express his emotions.  

 

Today, white remains an ever popular subject. Roman Opalka made his name creating a series of white numbers of a white background, while Daniel Arsham reinvents white walls in galleries by letting his artwork drip down onto them. White is a colour with multiple symbolic interpretations. The colour of divinity or humility; of purity and immaculate, of emptiness and absence, but always colour. If blue has Klein and red has Rothko, it appears that no artist has yet succeeded in fully mastering white – but maybe you'll find them in our selection!


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Print, Andhana, René Galassi

René Galassi

Print - 74 x 54 x 0.3 cm Print - 29.1 x 21.3 x 0.1 inch

$1,082

Print, The dog, Takeru Amano

Takeru Amano

Print - 69 x 69 cm Print - 27.2 x 27.2 inch

$1,475

Print, Untitled, Hans Bellmer

Hans Bellmer

Print - 66 x 50.8 cm Print - 26 x 20 inch

$1,650

Print, S/T, Gao Xingjian

S/T

Gao Xingjian

Print - 65 x 50 cm Print - 25.6 x 19.7 inch

$1,721

Print, DeLorean, Ryca

Ryca

Print - 85 x 119 x 0.1 cm Print - 33.5 x 46.9 x 0 inch

$860

Print, BW50406, André Nadal

André Nadal

Print - 50 x 50 x 0.7 cm Print - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.3 inch

$1,475

Print, En Cuba, Julio Larraz

Julio Larraz

Print - 70 x 90 x 1 cm Print - 27.6 x 35.4 x 0.4 inch

$3,073

Print, Untitled, Lidia Masllorens

Lidia Masllorens

Print - 150 x 150 x 1 cm Print - 59.1 x 59.1 x 0.4 inch

$5,900

Print, Woman, Massimo Campigli

Massimo Campigli

Print - 64.5 x 46.5 x 0.2 cm Print - 25.4 x 18.3 x 0.1 inch

$738

Print, Sans titre, Pello Irazu

Pello Irazu

Print - 75 x 55 x 0.02 cm Print - 29.5 x 21.7 x 0 inch

$615

Print, Painted soul, Milan Knizak

Milan Knizak

Print - 130 x 130 x 0.1 cm Print - 51.2 x 51.2 x 0 inch

$799

Print, Marilyn I, Blank Barbie

Blank Barbie

Print - 76 x 76 x 0.01 cm Print - 29.9 x 29.9 x 0 inch

$2,581

Print, Marilyn, Devin Miles

Devin Miles

Print - 50 x 50 x 2.3 cm Print - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.9 inch

$1,967 $1,672

Print, Untitled, Joan Claret

Joan Claret

Print - 75 x 55 x 0.1 cm Print - 29.5 x 21.7 x 0 inch

$738

Print, Chef Louis, Guy Buffet

Guy Buffet

Print - 58.4 x 45.7 x 5.1 cm Print - 23 x 18 x 2 inch

$750

Print, Zermatt, Rosa Agenjo

Rosa Agenjo

Print - 20 x 18 x 0.1 cm Print - 7.9 x 7.1 x 0 inch

$492

Print, Submission, Nigel Howlett

Nigel Howlett

Print - 46.99 x 41.6 x 1 cm Print - 18.5 x 16.4 x 0.4 inch

$4,950 $4,455

Print, Mod, Yannis Kounellis

Mod

Yannis Kounellis

Print - 64 x 76 cm Print - 25.2 x 29.9 inch

$2,704

Print, Chicago Blues, Mezzo

Mezzo

Print - 70 x 50 x 0.7 cm Print - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0.3 inch

$246

Print, Gino, Gilles Rimaud

Gilles Rimaud

Print - 90 x 60 x 1 cm Print - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch

$738

Print, The Climber, Ivo Pannaggi

Ivo Pannaggi

Print - 70.5 x 50 x 0.2 cm Print - 27.8 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch

$934

Print, Etreinte, Ivan Messac

Ivan Messac

Print - 57.5 x 40 x 0.2 cm Print - 22.6 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch

$983

Print, Vague, Najia Mehadji

Najia Mehadji

Print - 100 x 100 x 2 cm Print - 39.4 x 39.4 x 0.8 inch

$3,688

Print, Ritual, Francisco Zuniga

Francisco Zuniga

Print - 47 x 36.8 x 0.3 cm Print - 18.5 x 14.5 x 0.1 inch

$1,200

Print, The Thinker, Kaï

Kaï

Print - 61 x 61 x 1.54 cm Print - 24 x 24 x 0.6 inch

$6,000

Print, Spring, Aloyzas Smilingis

Aloyzas Smilingis

Print - 100 x 100 x 2 cm Print - 39.4 x 39.4 x 0.8 inch

$1,229

Print, Tigre de Java, Gorg One

Gorg One

Print - 50 x 70 x 1 cm Print - 19.7 x 27.6 x 0.4 inch

$246

Print, The Cat, Gianpaolo Berto

Gianpaolo Berto

Print - 65 x 50 x 0.1 cm Print - 25.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch

$246

Print, Sans Titre, Maurice Savin

Maurice Savin

Print - 50 x 66 x 0.1 cm Print - 19.7 x 26 x 0 inch

$430

Print, Top, Bernard Quentin

Top

Bernard Quentin

Print - 71 x 110 cm Print - 28 x 43.3 inch

$2,213

Print, When it rains, R.J Hohimer

R.J Hohimer

Print - 95.3 x 61 x 5.1 cm Print - 37.5 x 24 x 2 inch

$1,200

Print, Art, Masanao Hirayama

Art

Masanao Hirayama

Print - 40 x 50 x 0.01 cm Print - 15.7 x 19.7 x 0 inch

$184