Black and white
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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
€5,500
Mains sur la tête
Marc Held
Photography - 30 x 40 x 2 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.8 inch
€20,000
Art Forms in Mechanism XXVIII
Linarejos Moreno
Photography - 192 x 109 x 5 cm Photography - 75.6 x 42.9 x 2 inch
€7,000
Yves Kelin/ Pierre Descargues - Zone de sensibilité
Pierre Descargues
Photography - 20 x 30 cm Photography - 7.9 x 11.8 inch
€350
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
€9,900
House in Mud
Santiago Sierra
Photography - 21 x 30 x 1.5 cm Photography - 8.3 x 11.8 x 0.6 inch
€5,000
Le Roi du Silence
Julien Gorgeart
Painting - 52 x 78 x 1 cm Painting - 20.5 x 30.7 x 0.4 inch
€5,800
Untitled #8
Leonardo Fernandez Della Pietra (Lolo)
Photography - 7 x 5 cm Photography - 2.8 x 2 inch
€250
La mer et la montagne
Jérome Obiols
Photography - 100 x 140 x 0.1 cm Photography - 39.4 x 55.1 x 0 inch
€3,700
Dance Moods - Lacina Coulibaly
Antoine Tempé
Photography - 60 x 50 x 4 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 1.6 inch
€3,800
Child with sloth, The Amazon Forest, Brazil
Araquém Alcântara
Photography - 30 x 45 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 17.7 x 0.4 inch
€2,500
Sans titre nº9
Julien Monteiro
Photography - 60 x 90 x 0.2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0.1 inch
€330
Fields of France
Emily Latimer
Photography - 44.5 x 54.5 x 3 cm Photography - 17.5 x 21.5 x 1.2 inch
€3,100
Ray of light ,C Chaplin
Tigi Van Gil
Photography - 110 x 120 x 2 cm Photography - 43.3 x 47.2 x 0.8 inch
€8,000
Tokyo
Christer Stromholm
Photography - 28.5 x 20.5 x 1 cm Photography - 11.2 x 8.1 x 0.4 inch
€3,910
Patrick Saytour Portrait
Jean-Pierre Loubat
Photography - 42 x 31 x 1 cm Photography - 16.5 x 12.2 x 0.4 inch
€480
Ethiopie sud: enfants mursi.
Jean-Pierre Duvergé
Photography - 40 x 50 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
€450
Leaf Veins III
Charles Brabin
Photography - 30 x 42 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 16.5 x 0 inch
€211
Paul Mc Cartney of The Beatles at George V Hotel
Roger Kasparian
Photography - 100 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 39.4 x 31.5 x 0 inch
€3,819
356 Speedster
Bernard Testemale
Photography - 60 x 80 x 2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0.8 inch
€3,300
Interior de la Iglesia de Espejo (Cordoba) en septiembre de 1937
Equipo Realidad
Print - 69 x 71 cm Print - 27.2 x 28 inch
€300
De Myrha à Babylone - Série poussette crèche 2
Valérie Donzelli
Photography - 22.5 x 22.5 cm Photography - 8.9 x 8.9 inch
€300
Patrick Zachmann, So Long, China - Édition limitée
Patrick Zachmann
Photography - 32 x 20 x 6 cm Photography - 12.6 x 7.9 x 2.4 inch
€400
Dans les rues de Biot
Raph Eye's
Photography - 30 x 20 x 4 cm Photography - 11.8 x 7.9 x 1.6 inch
€140
E2
Jean-Paul Veison Marcelli
Photography - 20 x 30 x 0.3 cm Photography - 7.9 x 11.8 x 0.1 inch
€157
Jeune femme
Albena Vatcheva
Fine Art Drawings - 50 x 50 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0 inch
€415
Weisshorn Panoramique
Thomas Crauwels
Photography - 90 x 180 x 1 cm Photography - 35.4 x 70.9 x 0.4 inch
€4,825
Line Obsession
Delphine Diallo
Photography - 30 x 22 x 2 cm Photography - 11.8 x 8.7 x 0.8 inch
€2,750
Baccarat II, Paris
Ellen von Unwerth
Photography - 36.8 x 54.6 cm Photography - 14.5 x 21.5 inch
€8,798
Kate Moss At 16
Jake Chessum
Photography - 101 x 51 x 0.01 cm Photography - 39.8 x 20.1 x 0 inch
€3,200
Elena Mar, odalisca en mio patio
Alberto García-Alix
Photography - 40 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 x 0 inch
€5,000
Body Painting par Keith Haring
Patrick Sarfati
Photography - 40 x 30 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 inch
€800
La lune n'a rien à craindre des loups #3
VAM / Jean-Pierre Gilson
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0 inch
€1,700
Nudo con giglio
Massimo Attardi
Photography - 100 x 100 x 4 cm Photography - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.6 inch
€3,600
Golfers - black and white photography
Allan Teger
Photography - 60 x 90 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 inch
€1,500
Les enveloppes - image 5/13
Sarah Salazar
Photography - 140 x 100 x 1 cm Photography - 55.1 x 39.4 x 0.4 inch
€1,500
Room 310 - 12 Prints Collector Portfolio # 3 - Fine Art Photography
Eric Ceccarini
Print - 30 x 21 x 0.3 cm Print - 11.8 x 8.3 x 0.1 inch
€810
Metaphysical Body Landscape #1
Anna Laza
Photography - 30 x 103 cm Photography - 11.8 x 40.6 inch
€1,490
#40 - Free As A Veil
Eric Lespinasse
Photography - 72 x 128 x 2 cm Photography - 28.3 x 50.4 x 0.8 inch
€959
Ocean (dialog)
Nadia Heart
Fine Art Drawings - 75 x 75 x 0.01 cm Fine Art Drawings - 29.5 x 29.5 x 0 inch
€700
Ancient Dunes, Photograph, Archival ink jet
Aaron Knight
Photography - 76.2 x 50.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 30 x 20 x 0.1 inch
€704
Nu reflet en piscine
Jacques Renoir
Photography - 60 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
€1,360
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!