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Samburu shepherd
John Kenny
Photography - 90 x 60 x 2 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
£2,500
The River Barysh
Alexander Sviyazov
Sculpture - 41 x 24.5 x 17.5 cm Sculpture - 16.1 x 9.6 x 6.9 inch
£7,120
Autos Tamponneuse (3)
Irène Jonas
Photography - 13 x 19 x 0.1 cm Photography - 5.1 x 7.5 x 0 inch
£445
Majestueuse féline
Mathieu Pujol
Photography - 75 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 29.5 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£1,068
Untitled (DEC355458)
Katsuko Kuroya
Fine Art Drawings - 30 x 30 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.8 x 11.8 inch
£142
La famille avant tout
Mathieu Pujol
Photography - 50 x 75 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 29.5 x 0 inch
£757
1 Kilomètre #10
Laure Debrosse
Photography - 40 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
£445
Le Ballet du grand Fleuve
Dominique Jullien
Photography - 13 x 30 x 1 cm Photography - 5.1 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
£312
Quand la brume s’étend
Dominique Jullien
Photography - 20 x 30 x 1 cm Photography - 7.9 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
£312
Nous Sommes Tous des Enfants - 2
Jean Valera
Photography - 20 x 30 x 0.3 cm Photography - 7.9 x 11.8 x 0.1 inch
£98
La Tour Seegmuller
Jean Valera
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.3 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
£169
Beneath the Night
Jessica Houston
Painting - 152 x 152 x 2 cm Painting - 59.8 x 59.8 x 0.8 inch
£5,247
180.10.2003
Karl-Martin Holzhäuser
Photography - 133 x 133 x 5 cm Photography - 52.4 x 52.4 x 2 inch
£28,480
180.23.2003
Karl-Martin Holzhäuser
Photography - 133 x 133 x 5 cm Photography - 52.4 x 52.4 x 2 inch
£28,480
JLO, Jennifer Lopez. Portrait.
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 114.8 x 82.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 45.2 x 32.5 x 0.1 inch
£4,099
Douglas Booth II, Portrait
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 114.3 x 78.7 x 0.3 cm Photography - 45 x 31 x 0.1 inch
£4,099
Elizabeth Olsen. Portrait
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 114.3 x 78.7 x 0.3 cm Photography - 45 x 31 x 0.1 inch
£4,099
Origianals. Bella Hadid. Portrait
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 114.8 x 82.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 45.2 x 32.5 x 0.1 inch
£4,099
Julianna Margulies, Portrait.
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 114.3 x 78.7 x 0.3 cm Photography - 45 x 31 x 0.1 inch
£4,099
Elizabeth Olsen Portrait
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 85 x 62 x 0.3 cm Photography - 33.5 x 24.4 x 0.1 inch
£3,279
Jennifer Lopez. Gold Edition Portrait
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 85.8 x 62.2 x 0.1 cm Photography - 33.8 x 24.5 x 0 inch
£3,279
Elizabeth Banks. Gold Edition
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 85.8 x 62.2 x 0.3 cm Photography - 33.8 x 24.5 x 0.1 inch
£3,279
Lewis Hamilton, Portrait on canvas
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 187.9 x 132 x 3 cm Photography - 74 x 52 x 1.2 inch
£4,099
Elizabeth Olsen. Portrait intervened by the artists.
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 85.8 x 62.2 x 0.3 cm Photography - 33.8 x 24.5 x 0.1 inch
£3,279
Bruno Mars, Portrait. Mounted
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 114.8 x 82.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 45.2 x 32.5 x 0.1 inch
£4,099
Toni Garnn II. B&W Photo intervened by the artists.
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 85.8 x 62.2 x 0.3 cm Photography - 33.8 x 24.5 x 0.1 inch
£3,279
Jamie Dornan, B&W Portrait intervened by the artists
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 85.8 x 62.2 x 0.3 cm Photography - 33.8 x 24.5 x 0.1 inch
£3,279
Toni Garnn, Portrait intervened by the artists
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 85.8 x 62.2 x 0.3 cm Photography - 33.8 x 24.5 x 0.1 inch
£3,279
Pharrell Williams, Portrait on canvas.
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 187.9 x 132 x 3 cm Photography - 74 x 52 x 1.2 inch
£4,099
David Gandy. Portrait intervened by the artists
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 85.8 x 62.2 x 0.3 cm Photography - 33.8 x 24.5 x 0.1 inch
£3,279
I would have liked to know the world as it was
Idan Wizen
Photography - 120 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 47.2 x 0 inch
£2,225
Pharrell Williams. Portrait intervened by the artists
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 85.8 x 62.2 x 0.3 cm Photography - 33.8 x 24.5 x 0.1 inch
£3,279
Diane K, Portrait Intervened by the artists
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 85.8 x 62.2 x 0.1 cm Photography - 33.8 x 24.5 x 0 inch
£3,279
Serie Monumentos
Ivan Hurtado
Photography - 50 x 30 x 2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 11.8 x 0.8 inch
£801
Serie Monumentos
Ivan Hurtado
Photography - 50 x 30 x 2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 11.8 x 0.8 inch
£801
Serie Monumentos
Ivan Hurtado
Photography - 50 x 30 x 2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 11.8 x 0.8 inch
£801
Donny and Elissa Argue Over Dice Huntington Beach Hand-signed
Ed Templeton
Design - 80.5 x 20.5 x 1.2 cm Design - 31.7 x 8.1 x 0.5 inch
£668 £534
An Island in the air
Urs Lüthi
Photography - 20 x 47 x 0.3 cm Photography - 7.9 x 18.5 x 0.1 inch
£445
An Island in the Air
Urs Lüthi
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
£445
B. Portrait intervened by the artists.
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 74.9 x 59.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 29.5 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
£2,869
Laßt Blumen Sprechen. Photograph intervened by the artists
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 52.8 x 39.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 20.8 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
£3,115
Gewitter. Photograph intervened by the artists
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 52.8 x 39.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 20.8 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
£3,115
Tokyo. Photograph intervened by the artists
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 54.6 x 44.5 x 0.3 cm Photography - 21.5 x 17.5 x 0.1 inch
£2,869
Interstellar III
Shine Huang
Photography - 106.7 x 106.7 x 0.3 cm Photography - 42 x 42 x 0.1 inch
£4,755
Interstellar II
Shine Huang
Photography - 106.7 x 106.7 x 0.3 cm Photography - 42 x 42 x 0.1 inch
£4,755
Interstellar
Shine Huang
Photography - 106.7 x 106.7 x 0.3 cm Photography - 42 x 42 x 0.1 inch
£4,755
Marilyn Relaxes in A Hotel Room
Ed Feingersh
Photography - 40 x 30 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 inch
£289
Caballero, One
Ricky Cohete
Photography - 91.4 x 61 x 0.3 cm Photography - 36 x 24 x 0.1 inch
£1,822
Man Curve Three: From Motion Series
Ricky Cohete
Photography - 91.4 x 61 x 0.3 cm Photography - 36 x 24 x 0.1 inch
£1,822
Man waist One: From Motion Series
Ricky Cohete
Photography - 91.4 x 61 x 0.3 cm Photography - 36 x 24 x 0.1 inch
£1,822
Man waist Two: From Motion Series
Ricky Cohete
Photography - 91.4 x 61 x 0.3 cm Photography - 36 x 24 x 0.1 inch
£1,822
Man jumping our of the water, Two: From Motion Series
Ricky Cohete
Photography - 91.4 x 61 x 0.3 cm Photography - 36 x 24 x 0.1 inch
£1,822
Wellenelement multiple Rotation
Hein Gravenhorst
Photography - 50 x 50 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 inch
£13,350
Wellenelement multiple Rotation
Hein Gravenhorst
Photography - 50 x 50 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 inch
£13,350
Wellenelement multiple Rotation
Hein Gravenhorst
Photography - 50 x 50 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 inch
£13,350
Lichtreflex - Translation / Rotation
Hein Gravenhorst
Photography - 38 x 28 cm Photography - 15 x 11 inch
£13,350
Sans titre (Un jour, une photo)
Aline Part
Photography - 67 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 26.4 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
£445
Pêcheurs aux narguilés
Marie Dorigny
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0 inch
£445
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!