Black and white
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The Air We Breathe
Jordana Ozier Lafontaine
Photography - 10 x 15 cm Photography - 3.9 x 5.9 inch
$290
Cathédrale, jeu de lignes
Marie-Odile Wagner
Painting - 53 x 15 x 2 cm Painting - 20.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inch
$246
Afar woman of Assaita
John Kenny
Photography - 67 x 45 x 2 cm Photography - 26.4 x 17.7 x 0.8 inch
$1,535
Lits double
Christian Lefevre
Photography - 75 x 100 x 0.3 cm Photography - 29.5 x 39.4 x 0.1 inch
$1,027 $924
Soul - Kate Hudson, Portrait. Photograph intervened by the artists.
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 45.7 x 35.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 18 x 14 x 0.1 inch
$2,000
Luna de Portugal, de la série Recetario
Carlos Pericás
Photography - 25 x 20 cm Photography - 9.8 x 7.9 inch
$201
1971 Féraud Black Sculpture Metal
Albert Féraud
Photography - 35 x 45 cm Photography - 13.8 x 17.7 inch
$2,121
Samburu adornment
John Kenny
Photography - 67 x 45 x 2 cm Photography - 26.4 x 17.7 x 0.8 inch
$1,040
Dans la machine
Muriel Deumie
Photography - 80 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$614
Absorbés par le temps - 5
Clara Cena
Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
$647
Lagerfeld above Logo, Fall/Winter 2006, Le Grand Palais Paris
Simon Procter
Photography - 240 x 178 x 5 cm Photography - 94.5 x 70.1 x 2 inch
$24,558
Il peso degli anni, 1962 (Le poids de l’âge)
Fabrizio La Torre
Photography - 60 x 42 x 0.5 cm Photography - 23.6 x 16.5 x 0.2 inch
$1,842
L'escalier. 6,09 m crue de la Seine
Julie Peiffer
Photography - 80 x 80 x 0.04 cm Photography - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$1,674
Rush Black and White
Robert Knight
Photography - 40.6 x 50.8 x 5.1 cm Photography - 16 x 20 x 2 inch
$950
Miles Davis - Jazz Hot
Arnaud Baumann
Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$1,563
César Mercedes & Tank
Arnaud Baumann
Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$1,563
On the moon 13 - série portraits de femmes
Stéphane Vereecken
Photography - 50 x 50 x 2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
$1,284
Your Table Awaits (Marilyn Monroe)
Ed Feingersh
Photography - 61 x 51 cm Photography - 24 x 20.1 inch
$882
De Gaulle en route pour le monument aux morts d'Algérie manque la République
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.3 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.1 inch
$781
Paul Bocuse et sa serviette, Colonges
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 24 x 36 x 0.3 cm Photography - 9.4 x 14.2 x 0.1 inch
$726
Un homme marche avec des chaussures toutes neuves
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 50 x 33.5 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.7 x 13.2 x 0.1 inch
$893
De Gaulle en visite aux fusillés du Mont Valérien.
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 55 x 33.5 x 0.3 cm Photography - 21.7 x 13.2 x 0.1 inch
$1,116
The reduction in self-awareness
Shulan Wang
Photography - 40 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,340
Eternal sleeping
Shulan Wang
Photography - 30 x 45 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 17.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,563
N48°52'17.23 E02°51'51.75
L'Atlas
Painting - 150 x 200 x 3 cm Painting - 59.1 x 78.7 x 1.2 inch
$13,953
Alpage de l'Alpe du Lauzet, Hautes-Alpes, de la série Sur les chemins du Briançonnais
José Nicolas
Photography - 36 x 36 x 0.1 cm Photography - 14.2 x 14.2 x 0 inch
$558
Led Zeppelin NYC 1973
Bob Gruen
Photography - 50.8 x 61 x 5.1 cm Photography - 20 x 24 x 2 inch
$6,200
Leonard Cohen
John Rowlands
Photography - 40.6 x 50.8 x 5.1 cm Photography - 16 x 20 x 2 inch
$1,350
Two sides of the same coin
Christa David
Photography - 25.4 x 22.86 x 2 cm Photography - 10 x 9 x 0.8 inch
$1,340
Valeria Mazza - Halston 1998
Anthony Horth
Photography - 29.7 x 21 x 0.2 cm Photography - 11.7 x 8.3 x 0.1 inch
$1,500
Bamboo Plant #2
Griselda Duch
Photography - 32 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 12.6 x 17.7 x 0 inch
$772
Bamboo Plant #1
Griselda Duch
Photography - 32 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 12.6 x 17.7 x 0 inch
$772
Submerged Civilization III
Shengqi Tang
Photography - 50 x 75 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 29.5 x 0.4 inch
$1,340
Submerged Civilization II
Shengqi Tang
Photography - 50 x 75 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 29.5 x 0.4 inch
$1,340
Submerged Civilization I
Shengqi Tang
Photography - 50 x 75 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 29.5 x 0.4 inch
$1,340
Portrait of Francis Picabia
Man Ray
Photography - 27 x 21 x 0.2 cm Photography - 10.6 x 8.3 x 0.1 inch
$35,721
Paris Notre Dame Cathedrale de Paris 7
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 18 x 24 x 1 cm Photography - 7.1 x 9.4 x 0.4 inch
$893
Paris Notre Dame Cathedrale de Paris 6
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 18 x 24 x 1 cm Photography - 7.1 x 9.4 x 0.4 inch
$893
Paris Tour Eiffel 2
Bruno Fournier
Photography - 28 x 24 x 1 cm Photography - 11 x 9.4 x 0.4 inch
$949
Lisa and her little lamb
Miquel Wert
Fine Art Drawings - 55 x 46 cm Fine Art Drawings - 21.7 x 18.1 inch
$1,674
Photographie de Marilyn Monroe
George Barris
Photography - 28 x 37 x 1 cm Photography - 11 x 14.6 x 0.4 inch
$1,094
Cheval fantôme - série animaux
Henry Ausloos
Photography - 70 x 70 x 0.1 cm Photography - 27.6 x 27.6 x 0 inch
$1,953
Leto's Daughter. Photograph intervened by the artists.
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 36 x 28 x 0.3 cm Photography - 14.2 x 11 x 0.1 inch
$1,800
Looking at Arcadia. Photograph intervened by the artists.
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 36 x 28 x 0.3 cm Photography - 14.2 x 11 x 0.1 inch
$1,800
Manufactura 16
Oriol Texidor
Photography - 30 x 40 x 7 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 2.8 inch
$1,060
Manufactura 9
Oriol Texidor
Photography - 40 x 50 x 7 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 x 2.8 inch
$1,407
The picture of emotions and other ailments of a sensitive human X
Joanna Chudy
Photography - 50 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$837
Cliff Richard – Signing Autographs, on Tour
David Steen
Photography - 46 x 61 x 0.01 cm Photography - 18.1 x 24 x 0 inch
$1,540
Led Zeppelin, 1973
James Fortune
Photography - 45.7 x 61 x 0.1 cm Photography - 18 x 24 x 0.05 inch
$1,950
1915 BRIGITTE au foulard
Eugène Druet
Photography - 54 x 43 cm Photography - 21.3 x 16.9 inch
$1,619
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!