Black and white
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De la série "The Other Place"
Vajid Amini
Painting - 150 x 100 x 4 cm Painting - 59.1 x 39.4 x 1.6 inch
$6,105
Mains sur la tête
Marc Held
Photography - 30 x 40 x 2 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.8 inch
$22,199
Art Forms in Mechanism XXVIII
Linarejos Moreno
Photography - 192 x 109 x 5 cm Photography - 75.6 x 42.9 x 2 inch
$7,770
Yves Kelin/ Pierre Descargues - Zone de sensibilité
Pierre Descargues
Photography - 20 x 30 cm Photography - 7.9 x 11.8 inch
$388
Big Doll, C Lacroix Tribute (8)
André Rau
Photography - 100 x 70 x 3 cm Photography - 39.4 x 27.6 x 1.2 inch
$10,989
House in Mud
Santiago Sierra
Photography - 21 x 30 x 1.5 cm Photography - 8.3 x 11.8 x 0.6 inch
$5,550
Le Roi du Silence
Julien Gorgeart
Painting - 52 x 78 x 1 cm Painting - 20.5 x 30.7 x 0.4 inch
$6,438
Untitled #8
Leonardo Fernandez Della Pietra (Lolo)
Photography - 7 x 5 cm Photography - 2.8 x 2 inch
$277
La mer et la montagne
Jérome Obiols
Photography - 100 x 140 x 0.1 cm Photography - 39.4 x 55.1 x 0 inch
$4,107
Dance Moods - Lacina Coulibaly
Antoine Tempé
Photography - 60 x 50 x 4 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 1.6 inch
$4,218
Child with sloth, The Amazon Forest, Brazil
Araquém Alcântara
Photography - 30 x 45 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 17.7 x 0.4 inch
$2,775
Sans titre nº9
Julien Monteiro
Photography - 60 x 90 x 0.2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0.1 inch
$366
Fields of France
Emily Latimer
Photography - 44.5 x 54.5 x 3 cm Photography - 17.5 x 21.5 x 1.2 inch
$3,441
Ray of light ,C Chaplin
Tigi Van Gil
Photography - 110 x 120 x 2 cm Photography - 43.3 x 47.2 x 0.8 inch
$8,880
Tokyo
Christer Stromholm
Photography - 28.5 x 20.5 x 1 cm Photography - 11.2 x 8.1 x 0.4 inch
$4,000
Patrick Saytour Portrait
Jean-Pierre Loubat
Photography - 42 x 31 x 1 cm Photography - 16.5 x 12.2 x 0.4 inch
$533
Ethiopie sud: enfants mursi.
Jean-Pierre Duvergé
Photography - 40 x 50 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
$499
Leaf Veins III
Charles Brabin
Photography - 30 x 42 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 16.5 x 0 inch
$225
Paul Mc Cartney of The Beatles at George V Hotel
Roger Kasparian
Photography - 100 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 39.4 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$4,239
356 Speedster
Bernard Testemale
Photography - 60 x 80 x 2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0.8 inch
$3,663
Interior de la Iglesia de Espejo (Cordoba) en septiembre de 1937
Equipo Realidad
Print - 69 x 71 cm Print - 27.2 x 28 inch
$333
De Myrha à Babylone - Série poussette crèche 2
Valérie Donzelli
Photography - 22.5 x 22.5 cm Photography - 8.9 x 8.9 inch
$333
Patrick Zachmann, So Long, China - Édition limitée
Patrick Zachmann
Photography - 32 x 20 x 6 cm Photography - 12.6 x 7.9 x 2.4 inch
$444
Dans les rues de Biot
Raph Eye's
Photography - 30 x 20 x 4 cm Photography - 11.8 x 7.9 x 1.6 inch
$155
E2
Jean-Paul Veison Marcelli
Photography - 20 x 30 x 0.3 cm Photography - 7.9 x 11.8 x 0.1 inch
$174
Jeune femme
Albena Vatcheva
Fine Art Drawings - 50 x 50 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$461
Weisshorn Panoramique
Thomas Crauwels
Photography - 90 x 180 x 1 cm Photography - 35.4 x 70.9 x 0.4 inch
$5,142
Line Obsession
Delphine Diallo
Photography - 30 x 22 x 2 cm Photography - 11.8 x 8.7 x 0.8 inch
$3,052
Baccarat II, Paris
Ellen von Unwerth
Photography - 36.8 x 54.6 cm Photography - 14.5 x 21.5 inch
$9,000
Kate Moss At 16
Jake Chessum
Photography - 101 x 51 x 0.01 cm Photography - 39.8 x 20.1 x 0 inch
$3,552
Elena Mar, odalisca en mio patio
Alberto García-Alix
Photography - 40 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$5,550
Body Painting par Keith Haring
Patrick Sarfati
Photography - 40 x 30 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 inch
$888
La lune n'a rien à craindre des loups #3
VAM / Jean-Pierre Gilson
Photography - 60 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$1,887
Nudo con giglio
Massimo Attardi
Photography - 100 x 100 x 4 cm Photography - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.6 inch
$4,440
Golfers - black and white photography
Allan Teger
Photography - 60 x 90 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 inch
$1,665
Les enveloppes - image 5/13
Sarah Salazar
Photography - 140 x 100 x 1 cm Photography - 55.1 x 39.4 x 0.4 inch
$1,665
Room 310 - 12 Prints Collector Portfolio # 3 - Fine Art Photography
Eric Ceccarini
Print - 30 x 21 x 0.3 cm Print - 11.8 x 8.3 x 0.1 inch
$899
Metaphysical Body Landscape #1
Anna Laza
Photography - 30 x 103 cm Photography - 11.8 x 40.6 inch
$1,654
#40 - Free As A Veil
Eric Lespinasse
Photography - 72 x 128 x 2 cm Photography - 28.3 x 50.4 x 0.8 inch
$1,064
Ocean (dialog)
Nadia Heart
Fine Art Drawings - 75 x 75 x 0.01 cm Fine Art Drawings - 29.5 x 29.5 x 0 inch
$777
Ancient Dunes, Photograph, Archival ink jet
Aaron Knight
Photography - 76.2 x 50.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 30 x 20 x 0.1 inch
$720
Nu reflet en piscine
Jacques Renoir
Photography - 60 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,510
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!