Black and white
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Masque 1972 Mask. Masque de la vie Life mask
Mirabelle Dors
Fine Art Drawings - 60 x 100 x 0.3 cm Fine Art Drawings - 23.6 x 39.4 x 0.1 inch
$1,398
Telltale
Solomon Jamy Brown
Photography - 70 x 50 x 0.05 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$1,285
Ali In Training
Russell McPhedran
Photography - 76 x 101 x 0.001 cm Photography - 29.9 x 39.8 x 0 inch
$1,063
Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw France
Jean-Claude Sauer
Photography - 61 x 45.7 x 5.1 cm Photography - 24 x 18 x 2 inch
$1,350
2 women with bouquet of roses
Frantisek Drtikol
Photography - 26 x 19 cm Photography - 10.2 x 7.5 inch
$1,342
In Flow V
Melanie Dulson
Fine Art Drawings - 60 x 44 x 0.01 cm Fine Art Drawings - 23.6 x 17.3 x 0 inch
$1,063
La veste du peintre
Guillaume Lavigne
Fine Art Drawings - 65 x 50 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 25.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$895
Paesaggio, 1980
Mario Giacomelli
Photography - 21 x 32.8 x 0.1 cm Photography - 8.3 x 12.9 x 0 inch
$1,454
Le chaos est une structure
Philippe Piccardi
Photography - 60 x 60 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 inch
$196
... C’est Naturel !
Chahrazed Fekih
Photography - 20 x 10 x 0.2 cm Photography - 7.9 x 3.9 x 0.1 inch
$559
Boxes of Flowers
James Fink
Photography - 50.8 x 40.6 x 0.6 cm Photography - 20 x 16 x 0.25 inch
$850
Shoot again (887)
Yves Cham
Photography - 45 x 60 x 0.01 cm Photography - 17.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$1,342
Jeanne Moreau / Paris Match
Jack Garofalo
Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$2,147
Breaking lemmings
Robert Stieghorst
Photography - 30 x 26 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 10.2 x 0.4 inch
$1,454
Tokyo Pic Nic II
Motohiko Hasui
Photography - 45.5 x 56 x 0.3 cm Photography - 17.9 x 22 x 0.1 inch
$559
Photographie de Brigitte Bardot
Marc Allegret
Photography - 24.8 x 15 cm Photography - 9.8 x 5.9 inch
$1,342
Jeune touareg
Emmanuelle Barbaras
Photography - 45 x 38 x 1 cm Photography - 17.7 x 15 x 0.4 inch
$783
Fille aux sacs poubelles
Eugenia Jaeger
Fine Art Drawings - 50 x 70 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.7 x 27.6 inch
$895
Tre Archi_09_2021
Serena Zeppilli
Photography - 30 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 17.7 x 0 inch
$671
Sans titre 3
Thierry Valencin
Photography - 43 x 33 x 3 cm Photography - 16.9 x 13 x 1.2 inch
$1,174
Les femmes guerrières
Charles Bayonne
Photography - 80 x 60 x 0.5 cm Photography - 31.5 x 23.6 x 0.2 inch
$1,342
Culinary Atronomy #1
Andrés Rozo Samer
Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$1,271
100th Anniversary Celebration Coffret # 6 - Bangkok
Fabrizio La Torre
Print - 29.7 x 21 x 0.3 cm Print - 11.7 x 8.3 x 0.1 inch
$727
Get a Clue I Got You Cornered Trump
Carla Sumarlidson
Painting - 182.9 x 91.4 x 2.5 cm Painting - 72 x 36 x 1 inch
$1,734
A bird without a song
Haude Bernabé
Sculpture - 102 x 65 x 72 cm Sculpture - 40.2 x 25.6 x 28.3 inch
$10,961
Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Beauvais
Sébastien Béghuin
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$1,510
Homeland
Anet Duncan
Fine Art Drawings - 26 x 21 x 7 cm Fine Art Drawings - 10.2 x 8.3 x 2.8 inch
$761
Elizabeth Taylor Spain
Burt Glinn
Photography - 45.7 x 61 x 5.1 cm Photography - 18 x 24 x 2 inch
$1,350
Photographie de John Steinbeck
Roy Schatt
Photography - 24 x 23 x 1 cm Photography - 9.4 x 9.1 x 0.4 inch
$772
Agnès Varda - Les plages d'Agnès
Jean-Loup Gautreau
Photography - 30 x 40 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 inch
$336
Joiner’s Shop Cairo
Gabriel Lekegian
Photography - 76.2 x 101.6 cm Photography - 30 x 40 inch
$1,107
Last London Bus
Bert Hardy
Photography - 31 x 41 x 0.01 cm Photography - 12.2 x 16.1 x 0 inch
$1,230
Memories I
Victoria Dearing
Photography - 27.5 x 44.5 x 0.3 cm Photography - 10.8 x 17.5 x 0.1 inch
$559
Wally ghost 01
Thomas Campion
Photography - 75 x 50 x 2 cm Photography - 29.5 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
$615
Vassilis with farm equipment
Jen Sloan
Photography - 35 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 13.8 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$1,007
Straight to heaven
Stephanie Powell
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
$727
Untitled II. From the Series Chiromorphose
Nico Baixas / Gos-com-fuig
Photography - 49.8 x 49.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.6 x 19.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,250
C1031 - 00
Stephane Charpentier
Photography - 20 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 7.9 x 11.8 x 0 inch
$1,007
Dior Paris
Bart Van Leeuwen
Photography - 88.9 x 76.2 x 5.1 cm Photography - 35 x 30 x 2 inch
$2,000
Looking for balance
Danielle Mano Bella
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.3 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,678
Cardiff by night
Jodi Bieber
Photography - 70 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$2,483
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!