Atelier de porcelaine II
Feng Hatat
Photography - 60 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$694
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!
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Atelier de porcelaine I
Feng Hatat
Photography - 60 x 90 x 2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0.8 inch
$694
Fours traditionnel à bois pour le porcelaine
Feng Hatat
Photography - 60 x 90 x 2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0.8 inch
$578
Spring amidst the beech
James Sparshatt
Photography - 60 x 85 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 33.5 x 0 inch
$1,579
King Mysterious
Rodrigo
Photography - 44.5 x 33.3 x 0.1 cm Photography - 17.5 x 13.1 x 0 inch
$1,848
Steve McQueen. La grande évasion. L'attente
George Barris
Photography - 28 x 36 x 1 cm Photography - 11 x 14.2 x 0.4 inch
$798
Mémoire de JingDeZhen Pause
Feng Hatat
Photography - 60 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$694
Mémoire de JingDeZhen Atelier 6
Feng Hatat
Photography - 40 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$694
Femme voilée dans le Bengale occidental. Inde
Dominique Leroy
Photography - 70 x 90 x 2 cm Photography - 27.6 x 35.4 x 0.8 inch
$1,503
Baltic_Ice_II_Helsinki_012
Bernhard Lang
Photography - 90 x 90 x 2 cm Photography - 35.4 x 35.4 x 0.8 inch
$2,312
Cinematography inspired sessions #1
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 17.7 x 0 inch
$347
Billiards, Toronto
Fabrizio La Torre
Photography - 42 x 30 x 0.5 cm Photography - 16.5 x 11.8 x 0.2 inch
$867
Ombre et lumière III
Feng Hatat
Photography - 48 x 32 x 1 cm Photography - 18.9 x 12.6 x 0.4 inch
$578
The devil is here #1
Alessandra Bisi
Painting - 24 x 35 x 0.1 cm Painting - 9.4 x 13.8 x 0 inch
$220
Rue Mouffetard
Uwe Ommer
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.3 cm Photography - 23.62 x 15.74 x 0.1 inch
$1,500
Mémoire de JingDeZhen
Feng Hatat
Photography - 60 x 90 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0.4 inch
$578
Ombre et lumière 7
Feng Hatat
Photography - 70 x 50 x 2 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
$694
Mémoire de JingDeZhen
Feng Hatat
Photography - 32 x 48 x 1 cm Photography - 12.6 x 18.9 x 0.4 inch
$694
Mémoire de JingDeZhen
Feng Hatat
Photography - 32 x 48 x 1 cm Photography - 12.6 x 18.9 x 0.4 inch
$694
Mémoire de JingDeZhen
Feng Hatat
Photography - 60 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$578
Mémoire de JingDeZhen
Feng Hatat
Photography - 50 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$694
Ombre et lumière #5
Feng Hatat
Photography - 48 x 32 x 1 cm Photography - 18.9 x 12.6 x 0.4 inch
$694
Ombre et lumière II
Feng Hatat
Photography - 48 x 32 x 1 cm Photography - 18.9 x 12.6 x 0.4 inch
$578
Mémoire de JingDeZhen Village 7
Feng Hatat
Photography - 40 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$694
Mémoire de JingDeZhen village 6
Feng Hatat
Photography - 40 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$694
Mémoire de JingDeZhen Village 4
Feng Hatat
Photography - 60 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$694
Mémoire de JingDeZhen village YaoLi
Feng Hatat
Photography - 40 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$694
Mémoire de JingDeZhen village II
Feng Hatat
Photography - 40 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$694
Mémoire de JingDeZhen village
Feng Hatat
Photography - 40 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$694
Voilier de tradition. Brest. Voile
Dominique Leroy
Photography - 90 x 70 x 2 cm Photography - 35.4 x 27.6 x 0.8 inch
$1,618
Lewis Hamilton. MacLaren. Espagne. 1
Dominique Leroy
Photography - 70 x 90 x 2 cm Photography - 27.6 x 35.4 x 0.8 inch
$1,734
Ocean Nightscape No.3
Angela Cameron
Photography - 91.4 x 61 x 0.8 cm Photography - 36 x 24 x 0.3 inch
$1,550
Couple de Tigres du Bengale. Inde
Dominique Leroy
Photography - 60 x 90 x 2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0.8 inch
$1,503
Voile et Voiliers
Dominique Leroy
Photography - 60 x 90 x 2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0.8 inch
$1,503
Too busy surviving to be angry
Idan Wizen
Photography - 120 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 47.2 x 0 inch
$2,890
El campesino
James Sparshatt
Photography - 50 x 50 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,091
Tuareg vision of intensity
John Kenny
Photography - 67 x 45 x 2 cm Photography - 26.4 x 17.7 x 0.8 inch
$2,128
