Black and white
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Wall Street, New York City
Leonard Freed
Photography - 48.3 x 33 cm Photography - 19 x 13 inch
€2,902
Zone blanche (PM11)
Palmi Marzaroli
Painting - 20 x 20 x 0.1 cm Painting - 7.9 x 7.9 x 0 inch
€1,350
Un air d exotisme : Mahe Seychelles
Jean-Pierre Fleury
Photography - 100 x 100 cm Photography - 39.4 x 39.4 inch
€2,460
Vision 11
Gina Vor
Fine Art Drawings - 42 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 16.5 x 11.7 x 0 inch
€200
Vision 10
Gina Vor
Fine Art Drawings - 42 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 16.5 x 11.7 x 0 inch
€200
Vision 9
Gina Vor
Fine Art Drawings - 29.7 x 21 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.7 x 8.3 x 0 inch
€150
Music Notes (Party At The Moontower)
Shepard Fairey (Obey)
Print - 30 x 30 x 1 cm Print - 11.8 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
€250
Catherine Deneuve à Venise, Italie,
Vittorio Pavan
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
€700
Mezzogiorno al Pantheon, 1 & 2, Rome
Fabrizio La Torre
Photography - 57 x 67 x 2 cm Photography - 22.4 x 26.4 x 0.8 inch
€2,320
Tina Turner, Los Angeles
Glen Craig
Photography - 40.6 x 50.8 x 5.1 cm Photography - 16 x 20 x 2 inch
€1,451
Tina Turner Smiling with Ikettes, Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, November 23
Glen Craig
Photography - 40.6 x 50.8 x 5.1 cm Photography - 16 x 20 x 2 inch
€1,451
BB King Kodalith Performance - Close up, LA Forum
Glen Craig
Photography - 50.8 x 40.6 x 5.1 cm Photography - 20 x 16 x 2 inch
€1,693
Iggy Pop, Ann Arbor, MI, 1968
Glen Craig
Photography - 40.6 x 50.8 x 5.1 cm Photography - 16 x 20 x 2 inch
€1,451
Tina Turner, Los Angeles, CA
Glen Craig
Photography - 40.6 x 50.8 x 5.1 cm Photography - 16 x 20 x 2 inch
€1,451
Miles Davis, Fillmore East, NYC, June 17, 1970 III
Glen Craig
Photography - 40.6 x 50.8 x 5.1 cm Photography - 16 x 20 x 2 inch
€1,451
Le tre Vespe, 1962 - Roma
Fabrizio La Torre
Photography - 70 x 110 x 0.3 cm Photography - 27.6 x 43.3 x 0.1 inch
€2,290
Before the mess
Tanguy Mendrisse
Photography - 50 x 70 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 27.6 x 0 inch
€790
Robert Plant (1993)
Kevin Westenberg
Photography - 101 x 76 cm Photography - 39.8 x 29.9 inch
€3,980
Ian McCulloch Echo and the Bunnymen
Kevin Westenberg
Photography - 76 x 61 cm Photography - 29.9 x 24 inch
€2,875
Reflecting landscape 12
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 80 x 30 x 0.3 cm Photography - 31.5 x 11.8 x 0.1 inch
€1,400
Reflecting landscape 10
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 80 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 11.8 x 0 inch
€1,400
Reflecting landscape 09
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 80 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 11.8 x 0 inch
€1,400
Reflecting landscape 08
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 80 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 11.8 x 0 inch
€1,400
Reflecting landscape 07
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 80 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 11.8 x 0 inch
€1,400
Reflecting landscape 06
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 80 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 11.8 x 0 inch
€1,400
Reflecting landscape 05
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 80 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 11.8 x 0 inch
€1,400
Reflecting landscape 03
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 80 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 11.8 x 0 inch
€1,400
Floating memories 07
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 40.6 x 50.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 16 x 20 x 0.1 inch
€800
Floating memories 06
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 40.6 x 50.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 16 x 20 x 0.1 inch
€800
Floating memories 05
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 40.6 x 50.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 16 x 20 x 0.1 inch
€800
Floating memories 04
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 40.6 x 50.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 16 x 20 x 0.1 inch
€800
Floating memories 02
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 40.6 x 50.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 16 x 20 x 0.1 inch
€800
Floating memories 01
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 40.6 x 50.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 16 x 20 x 0.1 inch
€800
Momentum
Amrita Bilimoria
Photography - 91.9 x 106.7 x 0.5 cm Photography - 36.2 x 42 x 0.2 inch
€2,902
Light Weaver
Amrita Bilimoria
Photography - 91.7 x 99.1 x 0.5 cm Photography - 36.1 x 39 x 0.2 inch
€2,902
The Fast Lane
Amrita Bilimoria
Photography - 91.4 x 64.3 x 0.5 cm Photography - 36 x 25.3 x 0.2 inch
€2,418
Tramontana XI
Amrita Bilimoria
Photography - 61 x 91.4 x 0.5 cm Photography - 24 x 36 x 0.2 inch
€2,418
Lost Village_11
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 100 x 70 x 3.5 cm Photography - 39.4 x 27.6 x 1.4 inch
€1,200
Spirit of Forest 20372
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 40.8 x 28.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 16.1 x 11.4 x 0.1 inch
€1,600
Spirit of Forest 2020
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 40.8 x 28.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 16.1 x 11.4 x 0.1 inch
€1,600
Spirit of Forest 1932
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 40.8 x 28.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 16.1 x 11.4 x 0.1 inch
€1,600
Spirit of Forest 1263
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 40.8 x 28.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 16.1 x 11.4 x 0.1 inch
€1,600
Spirit of Forest 1236
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 40.8 x 28.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 16.1 x 11.4 x 0.1 inch
€1,600
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!