Black and white
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La fille du roi de Birmanie réfugiée au Siam
The opium smoking white elephant
Photography - 60 x 40 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 inch
$1,451
Lévitation Effect 003
Jean-Claude Byandb
Photography - 60 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 17.7 x 0 inch
$681
Hide and seek
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$614
It’s nice and quiet…
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$592
Retiro in May
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$592
Pigeon monument
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$614
Maiol, Nymphs. Photograph intervened by the artists.
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 29.5 x 21.7 x 0.3 cm Photography - 11.6 x 8.5 x 0.1 inch
$1,080
Daytona, Playboy Dallas I. Photograph intervened by the artists.
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 29.5 x 21.7 x 0.3 cm Photography - 11.6 x 8.5 x 0.1 inch
$1,080
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$592
Old man with new hat
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$614
Small talks II
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$592
Father and son
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
$726
If I was your girlfriend
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 60 x 60 x 0.2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
$726
L'homme du passé
Tanguy Mendrisse
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
$190
Sled. Photograph intervened by the artists
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 50.8 x 39.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 20 x 15.5 x 0.1 inch
$3,800
Ceremony II, Photograph intervened by the artists
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 54.6 x 44.5 x 0.3 cm Photography - 21.5 x 17.5 x 0.1 inch
$3,500
Ceremony. Photograph intervened by the artists
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 44.5 x 54.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 17.5 x 21.5 x 0.1 inch
$3,500
Steinerene Rinne, Wilder Kaiser, Nordwärts
Peter Neusser
Photography - 122 x 87 cm Photography - 48 x 34.3 inch
$3,572
Cinematography inspired session #25
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 17.7 x 0 inch
$212
Cinematography inspired session #3
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 45 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 17.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$212
Cinematography inspired session #2
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 17.7 x 0 inch
$212
Demain, mon rêve d'aujourd'hui, Paris
Julie Peiffer
Photography - 50 x 45 cm Photography - 19.7 x 17.7 inch
$614
Gypsy - L'Ombre de Toi - Meme, Paris
Julie Peiffer
Photography - 80 x 80 cm Photography - 31.5 x 31.5 inch
$1,016
11h53 - 6,09, Crue de la Seine - Paris 2016
Julie Peiffer
Photography - 50 x 50 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 inch
$793
Midday Spécial
Julie Peiffer
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.04 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$726
C'est super, Je t'aime
Julie Peiffer
Photography - 75 x 60 x 0.04 cm Photography - 29.5 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$837
Rue des Martyrs
Mathieu Dussaucy
Painting - 120 x 120 x 2.5 cm Painting - 47.2 x 47.2 x 1 inch
$1,674
You are a story
Justin Pumfrey
Photography - 151 x 101 x 0.01 cm Photography - 59.4 x 39.8 x 0 inch
$3,120
Nick Cave & Blixa Bargeld
Detlev Schneider
Photography - 50 x 40 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 inch
$1,005
Reflets de Ville
Jean-Pierre Fleury
Photography - 150 x 100 cm Photography - 59.1 x 39.4 inch
$4,197
Hommage à Brassai - Portrait craché
Jean-Pierre Fleury
Photography - 100 x 100 cm Photography - 39.4 x 39.4 inch
$2,746
Miles Davis le célèbre trompettiste en concert, Paris Jazz Festival, 3 novembre 1969. - série Jazz
Philippe Gras
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.3 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,060
Would you swim with me? VII
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 52.5 x 70 x 0.1 cm Photography - 20.7 x 27.6 x 0 inch
$212
Où est Charlie ? V
Tanguy Mendrisse
Photography - 30 x 24 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 9.4 x 0 inch
$140
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!