Black and white
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Cubic Feet Empaquetages
Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Photography - 50 x 70 x 0.2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 27.6 x 0.1 inch
$5,089
HRH Princess Elizabeth With HRH The Prince of Wales
Cecil Beaton
Photography - 76.2 x 76.2 cm Photography - 30 x 30 inch
$1,310
Ray Charles
Philippe Gras
Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,074
Loulou Cassis
Bernard Biancotto
Photography - 60 x 90 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0.4 inch
$679
Ituango, Pigment Prints
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 96 x 78 x 0.3 cm Photography - 37.8 x 30.7 x 0.1 inch
$900
Recconais qu'il y a toujours une inconnue
Julie Peiffer
Photography - 62 x 40 x 0.5 cm Photography - 24.4 x 15.7 x 0.2 inch
$1,357
1910 Arbres Trees
Eugène Druet
Photography - 59 x 50 x 0.5 cm Photography - 23.2 x 19.7 x 0.2 inch
$1,414
Nature-morte aux pinceaux
Pierre Brochet
Photography - 30 x 40 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 inch
$509
Noir 01 “Black River”
Hengki Koentjoro
Photography - 43 x 43 x 0.02 cm Photography - 16.9 x 16.9 x 0 inch
$1,074
La montée des eaux
Fabienne Cresens
Photography - 100 x 100 cm Photography - 39.4 x 39.4 inch
$1,244
Financial District New York
Claude Guillaumin
Photography - 50 x 70 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 27.6 x 0.4 inch
$1,809
Flowers of delusion
Elena Raceala
Photography - 61 x 91.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 24 x 36 x 0.1 inch
$1,221
Trying to reach
Robert Stieghorst
Fine Art Drawings - 30 x 26 x 2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.8 x 10.2 x 0.8 inch
$1,470
One for All, All for One
Bisco Smith
Painting - 61 x 46 x 0.1 cm Painting - 24 x 18.1 x 0 inch
$2,827
Picasso Preside la Corrida - Frejus, 1962
Lucien Clergue
Photography - 45.7 x 55.9 cm Photography - 18 x 22 inch
$12,000
Rome : Dark Corner
Ellie Sass (Sassayiannis)
Photography - 50 x 70 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 27.6 x 0 inch
$543
Sans titre
Odonchimeg Davaadorj
Fine Art Drawings - 30 x 41.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.8 x 16.3 inch
$1,244
Man with Black Sand
Ricky Cohete
Photography - 91.4 x 61 x 0.3 cm Photography - 36 x 24 x 0.1 inch
$2,222
The Basketball game
Paul Almasy
Photography - 69.5 x 49.6 x 1 cm Photography - 27.4 x 19.5 x 0.4 inch
$990
Monochrome 6th avenue
Adrien Faveau
Painting - 120 x 120 x 2 cm Painting - 47.2 x 47.2 x 0.8 inch
$4,071
Butch Chanel: John, Robert and Michael, NYC
Michael James O'Brien
Photography - 91.4 x 61 x 0.3 cm Photography - 36 x 24 x 0.1 inch
$5,000
Kate Moss Venice Beach IV
Christoph Martin Schmid
Photography - 44 x 33 cm Photography - 17.3 x 13 inch
$905
Jeanne Hébuterne - Planche 114
Nadine Van Der Straeten
Print - 59.4 x 42 x 1 cm Print - 23.4 x 16.5 x 0.4 inch
$667
Bicicletas, Crianças e Outras Alegrias
Geraldo Pestalozzi
Photography - 29.7 x 42 cm Photography - 11.7 x 16.5 inch
$565
Napoli
Gabriele Basilico
Photography - 102 x 130 x 0.1 cm Photography - 40.2 x 51.2 x 0 inch
$10,178
Fire Hydrant, Harlem, New York City
Leonard Freed
Photography - 48.3 x 33 cm Photography - 19 x 13 inch
$3,000
Femme dans le désert
Emmanuelle Barbaras
Photography - 30 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$792
Le Baiser - Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg
Tony Frank
Photography - 75 x 110 x 4 cm Photography - 29.5 x 43.3 x 1.6 inch
$12,440
La femme de pêcheur
Marie Dorigny
Photography - 58 x 38 x 0.1 cm Photography - 22.8 x 15 x 0 inch
$1,583
Nouveau départ
Xavier-Alexandre Pons
Photography - 100 x 100 x 1 cm Photography - 39.4 x 39.4 x 0.4 inch
$2,375
Paradis perdu 9 - série portraits de femmes
Stéphane Vereecken
Photography - 40 x 30 x 2 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.8 inch
$565
Under The Bridge
Paul J Bucknall
Photography - 91.4 x 61 x 0.3 cm Photography - 36 x 24 x 0.1 inch
$953
A Widow in Her Bedroom, 55th St, NYC
Diane Arbus
Photography - 35.6 x 27.9 cm Photography - 14 x 11 inch
$38,000
Gallinacean III
Brigitte Chombart de Lauwe
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 50 x 2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
$769
Window to Our Soul
Ejaz Khan
Photography - 83.8 x 124.5 x 2.5 cm Photography - 33 x 49 x 1 inch
$3,600
Aiguille du midi
Eric Bouvet
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$1,583
Reflet, La voyeuse
Stéphane Aït Ouarab
Photography - 75 x 60 x 0.2 cm Photography - 29.5 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,583
Rev Dr. Martin Luther King with Willie Mays
Harry Adams
Photography - 61 x 61 x 0.3 cm Photography - 24 x 24 x 0.1 inch
$2,000
Lost in The Fog, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
Guilherme Licurgo
Photography - 58.4 x 88.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 23 x 35 x 0.1 inch
$2,500
Grandma Divers IX
Alain Schroeder
Photography - 120 x 80 x 1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0.4 inch
$2,827
Bill T. Jones
Robert Mapplethorpe
Photography - 50.2 x 40 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.75 x 15.75 x 0.1 inch
$45,000
Catherine Deneuve à Venise, Italie,
Vittorio Pavan
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$792
Frida Kahlo, Casa Azul Coyoacan
Leo Matiz
Photography - 22.2 x 16.5 x 2.5 cm Photography - 8.75 x 6.5 x 1 inch
$4,500
Miami Stripes 09 11bn
Luca Artioli
Photography - 114.3 x 177.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 45 x 70 x 0.1 inch
$5,000
Run DMC- Back to the source
OverSide
Photography - 70 x 50 x 0.5 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0.2 inch
$396
Céréales 3
Sébastien Chauchot
Photography - 40 x 35 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 13.8 x 0.4 inch
$396
Defining Shadows II
Maureen J Haldeman
Photography - 101.6 x 76.2 x 0.6 cm Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.25 inch
$1,400
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!