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Boyz N the Hood
Samuel Cueto
Photography - 50 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,009
The eyes of the boat
Samuel Cueto
Photography - 40 x 50 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,009
Little girls on the street
Samuel Cueto
Photography - 40 x 50 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,009
Ebony Jet (Girlfriend), NYC
Michael James O'Brien
Photography - 152.4 x 101.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 inch
$8,000
Páramo Chingaza and Caballo el Palmar, Pigment Prints
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 110 x 183.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 43.3 x 72.4 x 0.1 inch
$4,000
Winter wind
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$762
Fickle Memory 02
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 100 x 70 x 3 cm Photography - 39.4 x 27.6 x 1.2 inch
$897
Winter wind II
Mihaela Ivanova
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$762
1971 Féraud Black Sculpture Metal
Albert Féraud
Photography - 35 x 45 cm Photography - 13.8 x 17.7 inch
$2,130
Entrer dans la lumière
Dominique Jullien
Photography - 20 x 30 x 1 cm Photography - 7.9 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
$392
Mujer de Santiago
James Sparshatt
Photography - 35 x 35 x 1 cm Photography - 13.8 x 13.8 x 0.4 inch
$789
La vieja guajira
James Sparshatt
Photography - 35 x 35 x 1 cm Photography - 13.8 x 13.8 x 0.4 inch
$789
La dama de la plaza
James Sparshatt
Photography - 35 x 35 x 1 cm Photography - 13.8 x 13.8 x 0.4 inch
$921
Pared el Palmar, Pigment Prints
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 110 x 91.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 43.3 x 36.2 x 0.1 inch
$2,000
Chaises longues
Jean-Michel Berts
Photography - 109 x 109 x 3 cm Photography - 42.9 x 42.9 x 1.2 inch
$5,718
The southern gentleman
James Sparshatt
Photography - 40 x 50 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 inch
$1,054
New Year's At Romanoff's
Slim Aarons
Photography - 40.6 x 50.8 x 2.5 cm Photography - 16 x 20 x 1 inch
$5,000
Laughing memories
Samuel Cueto
Photography - 80 x 120 x 1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 47.2 x 0.4 inch
$8,969
Textures, White Sands
Heike Bohnstengel
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$617
Himba Beauty
Faie Davis
Photography - 85.8 x 76.8 x 0.25 cm Photography - 33.8 x 30.2 x 0.1 inch
$1,500
Samburu adornment
John Kenny
Photography - 67 x 45 x 2 cm Photography - 26.4 x 17.7 x 0.8 inch
$1,054
Miles Davis le célèbre trompettiste en 1967 en Concert à la Salle Pleyel - série Jazz
Philippe Gras
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
$1,065
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
$785
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
$729
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
$897
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
$1,121
Submerged Civilization III
Shengqi Tang
Photography - 50 x 75 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 29.5 x 0.4 inch
$1,345
Submerged Civilization II
Shengqi Tang
Photography - 50 x 75 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 29.5 x 0.4 inch
$1,345
Submerged Civilization I
Shengqi Tang
Photography - 50 x 75 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 29.5 x 0.4 inch
$1,345
The reduction in self-awareness
Shulan Wang
Photography - 40 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,345
Eternal sleeping
Shulan Wang
Photography - 30 x 45 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 17.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,570
Chassé-croisé à l'entrée de l'hôtel Plaza, New York
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.3 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.1 inch
$729
Douglas Booth. Portrait photography intervened by the artists.
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 49.5 x 36.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.5 x 14.5 x 0.1 inch
$2,000
Rosy de Palma. Portrait Photography intervened by the artists.
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 49.5 x 36.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.5 x 14.5 x 0.1 inch
$2,000
Aleksander Skarsgard. Portrait photography intervened by the artists.
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 49.5 x 36.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.5 x 14.5 x 0.1 inch
$2,000
Ewan Mcgregor Portrait. Photograph intervened by the artists.
Hunter & Gatti
Photography - 49.5 x 36.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.5 x 14.5 x 0.1 inch
$2,000
François Truffaut, Paris
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 36 x 24 x 0.3 cm Photography - 14.2 x 9.4 x 0.1 inch
$1,682
La Halle aux vins de Bercy
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.3 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
$785
En bordure de Central Park, New York
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 24 x 36 x 0.3 cm Photography - 9.4 x 14.2 x 0.1 inch
$729
Le repos des bikers, Los Angeles
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.3 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
$841
Les adieux de Leningrad
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.3 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.1 inch
$841
L’Académie militaire, West Point, États-Unis, la parade finale
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.3 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.1 inch
$785
Inauguration de la chapelle Le Corbusier à Rongchamp
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.3 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
$729
Felouques sur le nil
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.3 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.1 inch
$897
Noce berrichonne, la parade dans le village
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.3 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
$841
Les Halles, Paris
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 24 x 36 x 0.3 cm Photography - 9.4 x 14.2 x 0.1 inch
$729
De l'Autre côté du mur, Berlin
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 36 x 24 x 0.3 cm Photography - 14.2 x 9.4 x 0.1 inch
$673
Isak Dinesen, baronne Blixen
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 41.5 x 28.5 x 0.3 cm Photography - 16.3 x 11.2 x 0.1 inch
$1,682
Courrèges
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 40 x 26.5 x 0.3 cm Photography - 15.7 x 10.4 x 0.1 inch
$1,121
Vérification de papiers dans le bidonville de Nanterre
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 33 x 50 x 0.3 cm Photography - 13 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$1,121
West Point: Yes Sir ! Un cadet accueille la nouvelle promotion
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 28.7 x 41.5 x 0.3 cm Photography - 11.3 x 16.3 x 0.1 inch
$1,345
Course pour le bus scolaire. MiddleWest.
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 49 x 60 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.3 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
$785
Steinerene Rinne, Wilder Kaiser, Nordwärts
Peter Neusser
Photography - 122 x 87 cm Photography - 48 x 34.3 inch
$3,588
The eye of the earth
Shulan Wang
Photography - 30 x 45 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 17.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,345
Have a soft dream with the moon
Shulan Wang
Photography - 45 x 30 x 1 cm Photography - 17.7 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
$1,121
Being and nothingness
Shulan Wang
Photography - 45 x 30 x 1 cm Photography - 17.7 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
$1,345
Páramo Chingaza
Miguel Winograd
Photography - 110 x 91.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 43.3 x 36.2 x 0.1 inch
$2,000
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!