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Storm Series Horizontal 40
Jaanika Peerna
Fine Art Drawings - 28 x 92 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11 x 36.2 inch
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Storm Series Horizontal 8
Jaanika Peerna
Fine Art Drawings - 28 x 91.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11 x 36 inch
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Photographie de Marilyn Monroe
George Barris
Photography - 28 x 37 x 1 cm Photography - 11 x 14.6 x 0.4 inch
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Marilyn in Vogue (1962)
Bert Stern
Photography - 48 x 33 x 1 cm Photography - 18.9 x 13 x 0.4 inch
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Ombre et lumière #4
Feng Hatat
Photography - 48 x 32 x 1 cm Photography - 18.9 x 12.6 x 0.4 inch
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The old mustache
Samuel Cueto
Photography - 50 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
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Three Guardian Angels
Kirill Postovit
Painting - 100 x 90 x 1.5 cm Painting - 39.4 x 35.4 x 0.6 inch
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Puro... alegria
James Sparshatt
Photography - 50 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
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The farmer
Paul Richard Mason
Fine Art Drawings - 31 x 24 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 12.2 x 9.4 x 0 inch
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Storm Series Horizontal 43
Jaanika Peerna
Fine Art Drawings - 28 x 92 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11 x 36.2 inch
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Alain Delon et Mireille Darc (1974)
Francis Apesteguy
Photography - 52 x 35 x 1 cm Photography - 20.5 x 13.8 x 0.4 inch
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Mike Todd's Nightmare
Pure Evil
Painting - 100 x 100 x 3.8 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.5 inch
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Le temps des sourires (triptyque)
Antoine Josse
Painting - 100 x 66 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 26 x 1.2 inch
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Dessine moi un petit Prince
Antoine Josse
Painting - 100 x 100 x 3.5 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.4 inch
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Vision 12
Gina Vor
Fine Art Drawings - 42 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 16.5 x 11.7 x 0 inch
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L'Enfer me ment (39)
Richard Laillier
Fine Art Drawings - 25 x 15 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 9.8 x 5.9 x 0.4 inch
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Contrôle des papiers
Jean-Michel Landon
Photography - 50 x 75 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 29.5 x 0 inch
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Sentint l'aire
Teresa Riba
Fine Art Drawings - 130 x 100 cm Fine Art Drawings - 51.2 x 39.4 inch
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San Clemente
Raymond Depardon
Photography - 30 x 44 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 17.3 x 0.4 inch
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Sarah Moon Portfolio, printed and bound, 10 Gelatin Silver Prints
Sarah Moon
Photography - 54 x 41.3 x 5.1 cm Photography - 21.25 x 16.25 x 2 inch
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Marilyn in Famous Black Dress (1962)
Bert Stern
Photography - 48 x 33 x 1 cm Photography - 18.9 x 13 x 0.4 inch
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Die Olympischen Ringe (The Olympic Rings)
Leni Riefenstahl
Photography - 49.8 x 37.5 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.625 x 14.75 x 0.1 inch
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Marilyn Monroe Contact Strip
Ed Feingersh
Photography - 101 x 76 cm Photography - 39.8 x 29.9 inch
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L.In the sky with gooses
Fabrice Dimier
Photography - 50 x 75 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.7 x 29.5 x 0.1 inch
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Marilyn in Grand Central Station
Ed Feingersh
Photography - 76 x 51 cm Photography - 29.9 x 20.1 inch
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100-197 14 (NG69)
Nicolas Galtier
Painting - 100 x 100 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
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N°100-80 11 (NG56)
Nicolas Galtier
Painting - 100 x 100 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
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Mare #331
Alessandro Puccinelli
Photography - 100 x 150 x 5 cm Photography - 39.4 x 59.1 x 2 inch
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Hedy, Watch The Stars (Hedy Lamarr, The Inventor)
Pure Evil
Print - 85 x 70 cm Print - 33.5 x 27.6 inch
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Upper Glasses Royal Ascot
Arthur Steel
Photography - 48 x 61 x 1 cm Photography - 18.9 x 24 x 0.4 inch
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Martin Luther King, Vintage Photograph
Leonard Freed
Photography - 27.9 x 35.6 cm Photography - 11 x 14 inch
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L'Enfer me ment (31)
Richard Laillier
Fine Art Drawings - 20 x 15 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 7.9 x 5.9 x 0.4 inch
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L'Artiste
Christiane Simon-Roques
Painting - 100 x 100 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 0.8 inch
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Masque de Kuntermann
Christophe Charbonnel
Sculpture - 60 x 27 x 21 cm Sculpture - 23.6 x 10.6 x 8.3 inch
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Svart skrik
Jean-François Bouron
Fine Art Drawings - 38 x 20 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15 x 7.9 x 0.4 inch
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Serge visant au F2 Nikon
Pierre Terrasson
Photography - 50 x 40 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 inch
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Le gondolier, Venise
André Hambourg
Painting - 37.5 x 27.5 x 0.1 cm Painting - 14.8 x 10.8 x 0 inch
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La basilique Saint-Marc et et Campanile, Venise
Charles Malle
Fine Art Drawings - 48 x 62 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 18.9 x 24.4 x 0 inch
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Composition avec du Rose
Stuart Christian Möller
Painting - 61 x 51 x 5 cm Painting - 24 x 20.1 x 2 inch
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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!