Black and white
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More Sketches of Spain - for Miles Davis
George Condo
Print - 130 x 97 cm Print - 51.2 x 38.2 inch
€6,500
Nus rouges - Picasso Grand Palais
Pierre Collin
Print - 90 x 63 x 1 cm Print - 35.4 x 24.8 x 0.4 inch
€700
Jeanne Hébuterne - Planche 60
Nadine Van Der Straeten
Print - 42 x 29.7 x 1 cm Print - 16.5 x 11.7 x 0.4 inch
€490
Jeanne Hébuterne - Planche 30
Nadine Van Der Straeten
Print - 42 x 29.7 x 1 cm Print - 16.5 x 11.7 x 0.4 inch
€490
Kællingedigte Poemes a la garce (Jens August Schade)
Lars Bo
Print - 46 x 36 cm Print - 18.1 x 14.2 inch
€300
Kællingedigte Poemes a la garce (Jens August Schade)
Lars Bo
Print - 46 x 36 cm Print - 18.1 x 14.2 inch
€300
Kællingedigte Poemes a la garce (Jens August Schade)
Lars Bo
Print - 46 x 36 cm Print - 18.1 x 14.2 inch
€300
Chicago Funky Budha Lounge
Tony Wang (aka Wrongwroks)
Print - 101 x 51 cm Print - 39.8 x 20.1 inch
€260
New York city ballet, paper interactions 13, 2014
JR
Print - 100 x 70 cm Print - 39.4 x 27.6 inch
Sold
Untitled - Expression no. 1
Jackson Pollock
Print - 58.5 x 74 x 0.2 cm Print - 23 x 29.1 x 0.1 inch
Sold
Journal D'Un Graveur - Vol. 2 Plate 15
Joan Miró
Print - 57 x 45.5 x 0.2 cm Print - 22.4 x 17.9 x 0.1 inch
Sold
Journal D'Un Graveur - Vol. 1 Plate 13
Joan Miró
Print - 57 x 45.5 x 0.2 cm Print - 22.4 x 17.9 x 0.1 inch
Sold
Hedy, Watch The Stars (Hedy Lamarr, The Inventor)
Pure Evil
Print - 85 x 70 cm Print - 33.5 x 27.6 inch
Sold
Pasolini - Dans l'infamie des temps
Ernest Pignon-Ernest
Print - 100 x 71 cm Print - 39.4 x 28 inch
Sold
Illustration from the series "Les Fleurs du mal"
Odilon Redon
Print - 32.5 x 25 x 0.2 cm Print - 12.8 x 9.8 x 0.1 inch
Sold
Guernika New Age _ tribute to Picasso
Bze Bzeland
Print - 30 x 90 x 0.1 cm Print - 11.8 x 35.4 x 0 inch
Sold
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!