Black and white
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El templo de santa Barbara
Justo Pastor Acea Gomez
Painting - 67 x 95 cm Painting - 26.4 x 37.4 inch
$1,358
Richard Wright, Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii
Jacques Boumendil
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$736
Nicolas de Staël dans son atelier
Denise Colomb
Photography - 30.8 x 38 cm Photography - 12.1 x 15 inch
$1,811
Jeanne Hébuterne - Planche 64
Nadine Van Der Straeten
Fine Art Drawings - 42 x 29.7 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 16.5 x 11.7 x 0.4 inch
$554
Guerre d'Algérie / Paris Match
François Pages
Photography - 55 x 55 x 0.1 cm Photography - 21.7 x 21.7 x 0 inch
$679
François Mitterrand à Solutré
Patrick Artinian
Photography - 30 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$792
Wild wild west
Scott Weingarten
Photography - 70 x 45 x 3 cm Photography - 27.6 x 17.7 x 1.2 inch
$5,658
Dassault flamant triptyque
Studio Cui Cui
Photography - 35 x 75 x 2 cm Photography - 13.8 x 29.5 x 0.8 inch
$1,686
Little Buddha
Robert Curran
Photography - 105.4 x 86.4 x 2.5 cm Photography - 41.5 x 34 x 1 inch
$2,500
Mr et Mme Hulot - Photographie scène de vie en bord de mer
Denis Morel
Photography - 20 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 7.9 x 11.8 x 0 inch
$498
White Type E
Cédric Marcadier
Photography - 60 x 60 x 4 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 1.6 inch
$1,245
Portrait of Sabau (too much pressure)
Andrei Cristian Petrescu
Photography - 80 x 60 x 4 cm Photography - 31.5 x 23.6 x 1.6 inch
$3,961
Temporal Disorder - 19
Radu Corneliu Sarion
Photography - 40 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$566
Keanu Reeves Signed Limited Edition Photograph
Markus Klinko
Painting - 61 x 50.8 x 0.3 cm Painting - 24 x 20 x 0.1 inch
$4,400
Christian Lattier Portrait
Christian Lattier
Photography - 17.5 x 16.5 cm Photography - 6.9 x 6.5 inch
$5,545
Bateau à sec sur le lac Baïkal
Christophe Gibourg
Photography - 100 x 100 x 1 cm Photography - 39.4 x 39.4 x 0.4 inch
$849
Ray Charles
Jacques Beneich
Photography - 70 x 100 x 1 cm Photography - 27.6 x 39.4 x 0.4 inch
$2,829
John Lennon, More Popular Than Jesus
Harry Benson
Photography - 53.3 x 61 x 5.1 cm Photography - 21 x 24 x 2 inch
$4,600
Silhouette IX
Deana Nastic
Photography - 101 x 76 x 1 cm Photography - 39.8 x 29.9 x 0.4 inch
$5,998
Congregations Beth Hamedrash and Holche Josher Wizaner, Manhattan/NYC
Petra Wunderlich
Photography - 60 x 75 x 3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 29.5 x 1.2 inch
$9,393
Keith & Hummingbird, RCA Studios, Hollywood
Gered Mankowitz
Photography - 63.5 x 48.3 x 5.1 cm Photography - 25 x 19 x 2 inch
$2,200
The Taj Mahal At Agra
Victoria and Albert Museum
Photography - 101.6 x 152.4 cm Photography - 40 x 60 inch
$509
Untitled (wall and mirror)
Mikael Siirilä
Photography - 22 x 15 cm Photography - 8.7 x 5.9 inch
$362
Detected Dictionnary (Wolfsschädel)
Stefan à Wengen
Painting - 30 x 25 x 4 cm Painting - 11.8 x 9.8 x 1.6 inch
$3,395
Icons - Fight of the Century - End of Fight - Joe Frazier vs. Muhammad Ali, 1971, Silver Gelatin Print
Catherine Ursillo
Photography - 50.8 x 61 cm Photography - 20 x 24 inch
$3,000
Joyeux Noël et un bon 1980
Michael Lechner
Print - 37.5 x 28 x 1 cm Print - 14.8 x 11 x 0.4 inch
$339
Amazing Spiderman
Mike McKone
Fine Art Drawings - 44 x 28 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 17.3 x 11 x 0.4 inch
$2,490
Void #07
Agathe Toman
Fine Art Drawings - 120 x 67 x 0.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 47.2 x 26.4 x 0.2 inch
$6,790
Two Women on the Subway, New York City
Walker Evans
Photography - 28.6 x 27.9 cm Photography - 11.25 x 11 inch
$5,000
Rush Live at Concord Pavillion
Jérôme Brunet
Photography - 45.7 x 58.4 x 5.1 cm Photography - 18 x 23 x 2 inch
$2,100
Big Doll, C Lacroix Tribute (8)
André Rau
Photography - 100 x 70 x 3 cm Photography - 39.4 x 27.6 x 1.2 inch
$11,203
Bar le Soleil (Ménilmontant)
Amadou Gaye
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
$453
Sans titre 1
Charles Durand
Fine Art Drawings - 29 x 39 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.4 x 15.4 inch
$396
De la série "The Other Place"
Vajid Amini
Painting - 150 x 100 x 4 cm Painting - 59.1 x 39.4 x 1.6 inch
$6,224
Série : Lalibela, près du ciel - écrit sur la peau, Ethiopie
Cristina García Rodero
Photography - 120 x 80 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 inch
$17,540
Mains sur la tête
Marc Held
Photography - 30 x 40 x 2 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.8 inch
$22,633
Greeting from Paris
Milena Jovicevic
Photography - 32 x 45 x 0.3 cm Photography - 12.6 x 17.7 x 0.1 inch
$396
Potato with Nails
Andrei Roiter
Photography - 27.94 x 35.56 x 2.54 cm Photography - 11 x 14 x 1 inch
$500
Yves Kelin/ Pierre Descargues - Zone de sensibilité
Pierre Descargues
Photography - 20 x 30 cm Photography - 7.9 x 11.8 inch
$396
Leaf Veins III
Charles Brabin
Photography - 30 x 42 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 16.5 x 0 inch
$233
House in Mud
Santiago Sierra
Photography - 21 x 30 x 1.5 cm Photography - 8.3 x 11.8 x 0.6 inch
$5,658
Skeme and Lava - N.Y.C Legends
Big Daddy
Photography - 20 x 30 x 1 cm Photography - 7.9 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
$283
Le Roi du Silence
Julien Gorgeart
Painting - 52 x 78 x 1 cm Painting - 20.5 x 30.7 x 0.4 inch
$6,563
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!