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1915 Maison normande Normandy house
Eugène Druet
Photography - 43 x 54 cm Photography - 16.9 x 21.3 inch
$1,609
1915 Les Pommiers Apple Trees
Eugène Druet
Photography - 43 x 54 cm Photography - 16.9 x 21.3 inch
$1,609
1908 Bouquet d'arbres Trees
Eugène Druet
Photography - 54 x 43 cm Photography - 21.3 x 16.9 inch
$1,720
1909 Arbre tourmenté Tormented tree
Eugène Druet
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.5 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0.2 inch
$2,164
1915 Sous-bois Undergrowth
Eugène Druet
Photography - 50 x 50 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 inch
$1,609
1915 Paysage Landscape
Eugène Druet
Photography - 59 x 50 x 0.5 cm Photography - 23.2 x 19.7 x 0.2 inch
$1,609
Au-delà de nous-même 2
Clara Cena
Photography - 30 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 17.7 x 0 inch
$555
Contemplum #017
Dani Garcia Sarabia
Photography - 33 x 50 x 0.03 cm Photography - 13 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$943
Contemplum #012
Dani Garcia Sarabia
Photography - 19 x 29 x 0.03 cm Photography - 7.5 x 11.4 x 0 inch
$721
Contemplum #011
Dani Garcia Sarabia
Photography - 19 x 29 x 0.03 cm Photography - 7.5 x 11.4 x 0 inch
$721
Contemplum #010
Dani Garcia Sarabia
Photography - 33 x 50 x 0.03 cm Photography - 13 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$943
Contemplum #009
Dani Garcia Sarabia
Photography - 50 x 33 x 0.03 cm Photography - 19.7 x 13 x 0 inch
$943
Robert Plant et Jimmy Page
Jean-Pierre Roux
Photography - 40 x 60 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 inch
$1,099
Mick Jagger et Keith Richards
Jean-Pierre Roux
Photography - 70 x 100 cm Photography - 27.6 x 39.4 inch
$2,209
Teinturières
Emmanuelle Barbaras
Photography - 40 x 50 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
$777
Urbain brutalisme - Photographie digigraphie (1) (7)
Claire Giraudeau
Photography - 70 x 50 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 inch
$277
Soft With Scars
Justin Pumfrey
Photography - 41 x 30 x 0.01 cm Photography - 16.1 x 11.8 x 0 inch
$516
California poppy
Justin Pumfrey
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.01 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
$516
Urbain brutalisme - Photographie digigraphie (1) (1)
Claire Giraudeau
Photography - 70 x 50 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 inch
$277
Urbain brutalisme, Bleu Majorelle - Photographie digigraphie
Claire Giraudeau
Photography - 70 x 50 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 inch
$277
Paesaggio, 1980
Mario Giacomelli
Photography - 21 x 32.8 x 0.1 cm Photography - 8.3 x 12.9 x 0 inch
$1,443
Seascape Untitled (f66) (Identity promises series)
Imanol Marrodán
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$943
Imagen del mundo flotante
Imanol Marrodán
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$943
Arabesque
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 47.2 x 0 inch
$2,908
Frozen trees 1
Imanol Marrodán
Photography - 39 x 50.6 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.4 x 19.9 x 0 inch
$1,221
Eternel Retour
Yves Bordes Lapeyre
Photography - 60 x 90 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0.4 inch
$599
Imaginary Landscapes | Moon
Humberto Lemos
Photography - 73.3 x 110 x 0.1 cm Photography - 28.9 x 43.3 x 0 inch
$1,665 $1,498
Imaginary Landscapes | Mangue Seco
Humberto Lemos
Photography - 73.3 x 110 x 0.1 cm Photography - 28.9 x 43.3 x 0 inch
$1,976 $1,778
Imaginary Landscapes
Humberto Lemos
Photography - 73.3 x 110 x 0.1 cm Photography - 28.9 x 43.3 x 0 inch
$1,865 $1,678
Imaginary Landscapes
Humberto Lemos
Photography - 73.3 x 110 x 0.1 cm Photography - 28.9 x 43.3 x 0 inch
$1,865 $1,678
Almost Drawings
Humberto Lemos
Photography - 73.3 x 110 x 0.1 cm Photography - 28.9 x 43.3 x 0 inch
$1,865 $1,678
Imaginary Landscapes
Humberto Lemos
Photography - 73.3 x 110 x 0.1 cm Photography - 28.9 x 43.3 x 0 inch
$1,776 $1,598
Volcanic
Humberto Lemos
Photography - 73.3 x 110 x 0.1 cm Photography - 28.9 x 43.3 x 0 inch
$1,976 $1,778
Patchwork road Biei 2
Humberto Lemos
Photography - 60 x 90 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0 inch
$1,554 $1,399
Patchwork road Biei 2
Humberto Lemos
Photography - 73.3 x 110 x 0.1 cm Photography - 28.9 x 43.3 x 0 inch
$1,732 $1,558
Black sand beach 2
Humberto Lemos
Photography - 73.3 x 110 x 0.1 cm Photography - 28.9 x 43.3 x 0 inch
$1,732 $1,558
Volcanic 3
Humberto Lemos
Photography - 60 x 90 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0 inch
$1,665 $1,498
Les Nuls en Ripolin
Arnaud Baumann
Photography - 40 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$666
Pierre Desproges
Arnaud Baumann
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$666
1972 Fish Eye Autoportrait
Florian Hunger-Pegof
Photography - 30 x 20 x 0.5 cm Photography - 11.8 x 7.9 x 0.2 inch
$2,109
On the moon 13 - série portraits de femmes (1)
Stéphane Vereecken
Photography - 40 x 30 x 2 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.8 inch
$766
1972 Vienna Muse 7
Florian Hunger-Pegof
Photography - 18 x 24 x 0.5 cm Photography - 7.1 x 9.4 x 0.2 inch
$2,164
1972 Vienna Muse 5
Florian Hunger-Pegof
Photography - 24 x 18 x 0.5 cm Photography - 9.4 x 7.1 x 0.2 inch
$2,164
1972 Vienna Muse 4
Florian Hunger-Pegof
Photography - 24 x 18 x 0.5 cm Photography - 9.4 x 7.1 x 0.2 inch
$2,164
1972 Vienna Muse 3 Vue du ciel
Florian Hunger-Pegof
Photography - 24 x 18 x 0.5 cm Photography - 9.4 x 7.1 x 0.2 inch
$2,164
1972 Vienna Muse 2 Vue du ciel
Florian Hunger-Pegof
Photography - 24 x 18 x 0.5 cm Photography - 9.4 x 7.1 x 0.2 inch
$2,164
1972 Vienna Muse 1
Florian Hunger-Pegof
Photography - 24 x 18 x 0.5 cm Photography - 9.4 x 7.1 x 0.2 inch
$2,164
Francisco
Valérie Abadie
Fine Art Drawings - 29 x 20 x 0.3 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.4 x 7.9 x 0.1 inch
$1,776 $1,598
Filets de lumières
Dominique Jullien
Photography - 17 x 31 x 1 cm Photography - 6.7 x 12.2 x 0.4 inch
$266
Blanc Marais
Yves Bordes Lapeyre
Photography - 75 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 29.5 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$633
John Lennon NYC Shirt 1974
Bob Gruen
Photography - 127 x 101.6 x 5.1 cm Photography - 50 x 40 x 2 inch
$7,300
Tina Turner NYC 1970
Bob Gruen
Photography - 101.6 x 76.2 x 5.1 cm Photography - 40 x 30 x 2 inch
$5,600
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!