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Carantec - Bretagne
Lionel le Jeune
Photography - 29 x 45 x 0.5 cm Photography - 11.4 x 17.7 x 0.2 inch
£339
Sitting on a sand dune
Valentin Pacaut
Photography - 50 x 75 x 0.2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 29.5 x 0.1 inch
£447
Mystique's Cosmos Prisoner
Clotilde.MJ
Photography - 55 x 55.84 x 0.3 cm Photography - 21.7 x 22 x 0.1 inch
£491
E5
Jean-Paul Veison Marcelli
Photography - 20 x 30 x 0.3 cm Photography - 7.9 x 11.8 x 0.1 inch
£140
White Sands 01
Amrita Bilimoria
Photography - 101.6 x 152.4 x 0.5 cm Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.2 inch
£2,571
From Grape to Stars- Domaine de la Romanée Conti#2
Patrick Desgraupes
Photography - 100 x 100 x 0.3 cm Photography - 39.4 x 39.4 x 0.1 inch
£14,292
E3
Jean-Paul Veison Marcelli
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.3 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
£281
E1
Jean-Paul Veison Marcelli
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.3 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
£281
Le carnaval
Didier Cormillot
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.2 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
£205
Megève winter 22
Adrianna MJW
Photography - 30 x 30 x 0.3 cm Photography - 11.8 x 11.8 x 0.1 inch
£268
L'étang sérénité /
Didier Cormillot
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0.1 inch
£241
Wind and storm /
Didier Cormillot
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0.1 inch
£241
Neige et plage en Bretagne /
Didier Cormillot
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.5 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0.2 inch
£241
Les reflets au ponton 3 ERIC /
Didier Cormillot
Photography - 80 x 60 x 0.2 cm Photography - 31.5 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
£241
Neige en Bretagne /
Didier Cormillot
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0.1 inch
£241
Dent D’Hérens
Thomas Crauwels
Photography - 90 x 180 x 1 cm Photography - 35.4 x 70.9 x 0.4 inch
£4,117
Weisshorn – Panorama
Thomas Crauwels
Photography - 90 x 180 x 1 cm Photography - 35.4 x 70.9 x 0.4 inch
£4,117
Place your beats
Clotilde.MJ
Photography - 59.08 x 60 x 0.3 cm Photography - 23.3 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
£322
Like a prayer
Clotilde.MJ
Photography - 60.49 x 50 x 0.3 cm Photography - 23.8 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
£326
Thy will be done
Clotilde.MJ
Photography - 45 x 60 x 0.3 cm Photography - 17.7 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
£259
Sunbathing In Antibes - Limited Edition Estate Print
Slim Aarons
Photography - 76.2 x 101.6 x 0 cm Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.001 inch
£2,099
Le sein de lait
Mathilde Oscar
Photography - 120 x 80 x 1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0.4 inch
£2,233
Hat and Gloves Silhouette (S)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 45.7 x 45.7 cm Photography - 18 x 18 inch
£2,073
Centimetri di Cielo
Elisa Gambalonga
Photography - 90 x 60 x 1.5 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0.6 inch
£1,429
Iconic Beauty #04
Benoit Lapray
Photography - 40 x 40 x 0.5 cm Photography - 15.7 x 15.7 x 0.2 inch
£536
Iconic Beauty #11
Benoit Lapray
Photography - 40 x 40 x 0.5 cm Photography - 15.7 x 15.7 x 0.2 inch
£536
The Goddess of Olympia (4)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 160 x 213.4 cm Photography - 63 x 84 inch
£41,467
The Goddess of Olympia (3)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 121.9 x 182.9 cm Photography - 48 x 72 inch
£20,734
The Goddess of Olympia (2)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 101.6 x 152.4 cm Photography - 40 x 60 inch
£12,440
The Goddess of Olympia (1)
Tyler Shields
Photography - 76.2 x 101.6 cm Photography - 30 x 40 inch
£8,293
Lit de fougères 1
Michael Mouque
Photography - 30 x 20 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 7.9 x 0.4 inch
£884
Welcome On Board Rolls Royce
Philippe Shangti
Photography - 90 x 90 x 0.5 cm Photography - 35.4 x 35.4 x 0.2 inch
£16,078
F0648 - The warrior
Idan Wizen
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 inch
£1,608
Paraglider - 1968 Slim Aarons Limited Edition Estate Stamped Print
Slim Aarons
Photography - 101.6 x 76.2 cm Photography - 40 x 30 inch
£2,689
Countess On Deck 1982 Slim Aarons Limited Edition Estate Stamped Print
Slim Aarons
Photography - 101.6 x 152.4 cm Photography - 40 x 60 inch
£3,171
Guerre froide
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 37 x 37 x 1 cm Photography - 14.6 x 14.6 x 0.4 inch
£1,608
Template Reboot 4
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 37 x 37 x 1 cm Photography - 14.6 x 14.6 x 0.4 inch
£1,608
Guerrière courbée
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 25 x 25 x 1 cm Photography - 9.8 x 9.8 x 0.4 inch
£804
Cinematography inspired session #26
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 45 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 17.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
£170
White
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!