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Temple japon 45
Raynald Najosky
Photography - 20 x 30 x 1 cm Photography - 7.9 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
£534
La tête dans la lune
Juliette Alhmah
Photography - 50 x 80 x 7.5 cm Photography - 19.7 x 31.5 x 3 inch
£1,157
Grands ensembles 13
Raynald Najosky
Photography - 30 x 20 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 7.9 x 0.4 inch
£534
Time to love 1
Raynald Najosky
Photography - 20 x 30 x 1 cm Photography - 7.9 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
£534
Point de vue new coeur Time Square 1
Raynald Najosky
Photography - 20 x 30 x 1 cm Photography - 7.9 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
£534
Chrysler 405 4
Raynald Najosky
Photography - 30 x 20 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 7.9 x 0.4 inch
£534
Saguaro, Baja California
Heike Bohnstengel
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
£507
Givenchy aux Champs Elysées
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 30.5 x 40.5 x 1 cm Photography - 12 x 15.9 x 0.4 inch
£890
Clouds and Rain
Wai Ming Lung
Photography - 75 x 50 x 0.01 cm Photography - 29.5 x 19.7 x 0 inch
£1,335
On the moon 06 - série portraits de femmes
Stéphane Vereecken
Photography - 40 x 30 x 2 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.8 inch
£445
On the moon 02 - série portraits de femmes
Stéphane Vereecken
Photography - 40 x 30 x 2 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.8 inch
£445
On the moon 01 - série portraits de femmes
Stéphane Vereecken
Photography - 40 x 30 x 2 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.8 inch
£445
Basilique-cathédrale Saint-Gervais-et-Saint-Protais de Soissons
Sébastien Béghuin
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
£1,202
Cathédrale de Soissons
Sébastien Béghuin
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
£1,202
Basilique-Cathédrale de Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Perpignan
Sébastien Béghuin
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
£1,202
Cathédrale de Notre-Dame de Strasbourg
Sébastien Béghuin
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
£1,202
Cathédrale Notre Dame de Strasbourg
Sébastien Béghuin
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
£1,202
Cathédrale Saint-Louis de Blois
Sébastien Béghuin
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
£1,202
Cathédrale Saint-Louis de Blois
Sébastien Béghuin
Photography - 50 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£1,202
Cathédrale Notre-Dame du Puy-en-Velay
Sébastien Béghuin
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
£1,202
Cathédrale Notre-Dame du Puy-en-Velay
Sébastien Béghuin
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
£1,202
Cathédrale Notre-Dame du Puy-en-Velay
Sébastien Béghuin
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
£1,202
Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Bourges
Sébastien Béghuin
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
£1,202
Cathédrale de Notre-Dame de Reïms,
Sébastien Béghuin
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
£1,202
Cathédrale de Notre-Dame de Reïms
Sébastien Béghuin
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
£1,202
Cathédrale Sainte-Cécile d'Albi
Sébastien Béghuin
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
£1,202
Cathédrale Notre-Dame d'Amiens
Sébastien Béghuin
Photography - 50 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£1,202
La Cathédrale Sainte-Croix d'Orléans
Sébastien Béghuin
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
£1,202
Cathédrale Sainte-Croix d'Orléans
Sébastien Béghuin
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
£1,202
Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres
Sébastien Béghuin
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
£1,202
Cathédrale Saint-Sauveur d'Aix-en-Provence
Sébastien Béghuin
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
£1,202
Cathédrale Saint-Sauveur d'Aix-en-Provence
Sébastien Béghuin
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
£1,202
Cathédrale Sainte-Marie-Majeure de Marseille
Sébastien Béghuin
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
£1,202
Cathédrale de Marseille la Majeur
Sébastien Béghuin
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
£1,202
Cathédrale Sainte-Marie-Majeure de Marseille
Sébastien Béghuin
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
£1,202
Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Reïms
Sébastien Béghuin
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
£1,202
Cathédrale de Notre-Dame d'Évreux
Sébastien Béghuin
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
£1,202
Bells of Montalcino
Donna Carnahan
Photography - 91.4 x 121.9 x 3.8 cm Photography - 36 x 48 x 1.5 inch
£1,390
Souvenir lointain de son parfum
Tanguy Mendrisse
Photography - 30 x 24 x 0.2 cm Photography - 11.8 x 9.4 x 0.1 inch
£107
La solitude n'existe pas
Pierre Gély-Fort
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0.1 inch
£1,068
Le club des chaises longues
Pierre Gély-Fort
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0.1 inch
£1,068
Les robots à cocktails
Pierre Gély-Fort
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£712
Le pot de départ
Pierre Gély-Fort
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£712
L'embarquement
Pierre Gély-Fort
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£712
Egg Study 3, Silver gelatin print
Shine Huang
Photography - 35.6 x 53.3 x 0.3 cm Photography - 14 x 21 x 0.1 inch
£1,967
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!