Black and white
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Cabinet of Souls (Armoire à Âmes)
Laura Makabresku
Photography - 20 x 20 cm Photography - 7.9 x 7.9 inch
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Nous sommes tous des enfants
Jean Valera
Photography - 20 x 30 x 0.3 cm Photography - 7.9 x 11.8 x 0.1 inch
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Nous sommes tous des enfants
Jean Valera
Photography - 20 x 30 x 0.3 cm Photography - 7.9 x 11.8 x 0.1 inch
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Une parisienne à Bicyclette
Sylvia Galmot
Photography - 60 x 80 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 inch
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Sol
Muriel Patarroni
Fine Art Drawings - 116 x 81 x 4 cm Fine Art Drawings - 45.7 x 31.9 x 1.6 inch
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Greta Garbo with hat, portrait
Clarence Sinclair Bull
Photography - 35.6 x 27.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 14 x 11 x 0.1 inch
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La duègne
Anne Bachelier
Fine Art Drawings - 34 x 24 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 13.4 x 9.4 x 0.4 inch
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'W'
Eugénie Lichet
Fine Art Drawings - 29.7 x 21 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.7 x 8.3 x 0 inch
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Wellenelement Inverse Transformation 1
Hein Gravenhorst
Photography - 50 x 50 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 inch
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Cloud
Robbie Cornelissen
Fine Art Drawings - 240 x 490 cm Fine Art Drawings - 94.5 x 192.9 inch
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Mer de Chine, Boat People
José Nicolas
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
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Sœur pleurant son frère
James Nachtwey
Photography - 38 x 56 x 1 cm Photography - 15 x 22 x 0.4 inch
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Le garçon de café
Hossein Borojeni
Fine Art Drawings - 15 x 10.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 5.9 x 4.1 inch
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Ice Block, Iceland
Gonçalo Martins
Photography - 19 x 19 x 0.1 cm Photography - 7.5 x 7.5 x 0 inch
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Peter Keetman Portfolio 1936–1960
Peter Keetman
Photography - 121.9 x 254 x 0.3 cm Photography - 48 x 100 x 0.1 inch
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Legère brise
Alain Longeaud
Photography - 65 x 50 x 0.5 cm Photography - 25.6 x 19.7 x 0.2 inch
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Johnny Hallyday. Seul dans la rue à Paris, le 2 Mars 1987
Francis Apesteguy
Photography - 42 x 30 x 1 cm Photography - 16.5 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
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Méditation sur la beauté n°1 : L'insaisissable
Anne Colson
Photography - 30 x 40 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 inch
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Fosters Pond
Arno Rafael Minkkinen
Photography - 70 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
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Hip Hop sous la Tour Eiffel
Amadou Gaye
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0 inch
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Hip Hop sous la Tour Eiffel
Amadou Gaye
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
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Grand éclat nuances blanc noir
Jonathan Pradillon
Painting - 80 x 80 x 4 cm Painting - 31.5 x 31.5 x 1.6 inch
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Anatomie 10
LN Le Cheviller
Fine Art Drawings - 70 x 100 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 27.6 x 39.4 x 0 inch
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Via Veneto #10
Gilles Mercier
Photography - 30 x 30 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 11.8 x 0.4 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!