Black and white
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Svart skrik
Jean-François Bouron
Fine Art Drawings - 38 x 20 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15 x 7.9 x 0.4 inch
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Le gondolier, Venise
André Hambourg
Painting - 37.5 x 27.5 x 0.1 cm Painting - 14.8 x 10.8 x 0 inch
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« The Clash »Simonon et Strummer / Athènes
Pierre Terrasson
Photography - 40 x 50 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 inch
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Marilyn in Grand Central Station
Ed Feingersh
Photography - 76 x 51 cm Photography - 29.9 x 20.1 inch
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Les cantonniers, Rue des Martyrs, Paris 9, 1950
Louis Stettner
Photography - 25 x 20 cm Photography - 9.8 x 7.9 inch
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Constance III (SG126)
Sylvie Guyomard
Sculpture - 32 x 32 x 2 cm Sculpture - 12.6 x 12.6 x 0.8 inch
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Take four
Anet Duncan
Fine Art Drawings - 24 x 23 x 5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 9.4 x 9.1 x 2 inch
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Dutch Courage
Anet Duncan
Fine Art Drawings - 24 x 22 x 5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 9.4 x 8.7 x 2 inch
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Le Papillon - The Butterfly
Alex Konahin
Fine Art Drawings - 46 x 33 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 18.1 x 13 x 0.4 inch
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Andy Warhol, Edie Sedgwick, Chuck Wein, New York City
Burt Glinn
Photography - 50.8 x 40.6 cm Photography - 20 x 16 inch
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Marilyn Monroe. Bungalow
André de Dienes
Photography - 34 x 27 x 1 cm Photography - 13.4 x 10.6 x 0.4 inch
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Norma Jean (1945)
André de Dienes
Photography - 28 x 26 x 1 cm Photography - 11 x 10.2 x 0.4 inch
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Marilyn Monroe
André de Dienes
Photography - 27 x 27 x 1 cm Photography - 10.6 x 10.6 x 0.4 inch
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Marylin Monroe (1949)
André de Dienes
Photography - 27 x 28 x 1 cm Photography - 10.6 x 11 x 0.4 inch
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Composition à l'encre
André Marfaing
Fine Art Drawings - 64 x 50 cm Fine Art Drawings - 25.2 x 19.7 inch
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Si umbrela si frigul
Kuffjca Cozma
Fine Art Drawings - 21 x 30 cm Fine Art Drawings - 8.3 x 11.8 inch
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Marilyn New York Taxi Cab Smiles
Ed Feingersh
Photography - 40 x 51 cm Photography - 15.7 x 20.1 inch
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Yurei
Richard Laillier
Fine Art Drawings - 14 x 10 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 5.5 x 3.9 x 0.4 inch
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Romy Schneider (1975)
Francis Apesteguy
Photography - 30 x 21 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 8.3 x 0.4 inch
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Guernika New Age _ tribute to Picasso
Bze Bzeland
Print - 30 x 90 x 0.1 cm Print - 11.8 x 35.4 x 0 inch
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La porte vers l'inconnu
Âme Sauvage
Painting - 50 x 50 x 2 cm Painting - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
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The other world
Shérazade (Sher) Auclair
Photography - 50 x 70 cm Photography - 19.7 x 27.6 inch
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The Heart Of Prague
Kirill Postovit
Painting - 105 x 68 x 1.5 cm Painting - 41.3 x 26.8 x 0.6 inch
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La parisienne vaut bien une messe
Sylvia Galmot
Photography - 50 x 30 cm Photography - 19.7 x 11.8 inch
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Noce dans le Berry, la nuit de noce.
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.3 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
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Violent delights, violent ends
Daniel Erban
Fine Art Drawings - 56 x 76 cm Fine Art Drawings - 22 x 29.9 inch
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Chicago 45, Portrait of a Woman
Hugo Erfurth
Photography - 36.5 x 26 x 0.3 cm Photography - 14.38 x 10.25 x 0.1 inch
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The family, Skrova – Norway 2012
Gonçalo Martins
Photography - 19 x 19 x 0.1 cm Photography - 7.5 x 7.5 x 0 inch
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Dot, dot, dot... ... ... 6/10
JP Malot
Fine Art Drawings - 50 x 70 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.7 x 27.6 inch
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Treehouse next to waterfall
Peter de Boer
Painting - 40 x 30 x 2 cm Painting - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.8 inch
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Vertige métaphysique
Michel Narbonne
Painting - 58 x 58 x 2 cm Painting - 22.8 x 22.8 x 0.8 inch
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La naissance des haricots
Michel Narbonne
Painting - 58 x 58 x 2 cm Painting - 22.8 x 22.8 x 0.8 inch
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Ce matin j'ai le cafard
Michel Narbonne
Painting - 58 x 58 x 2 cm Painting - 22.8 x 22.8 x 0.8 inch
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Pasolini - Dans l'infamie des temps
Ernest Pignon-Ernest
Print - 100 x 71 cm Print - 39.4 x 28 inch
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Death Valley, États-Unis
Stephane Cormier Cormier
Photography - 47 x 47 x 1 cm Photography - 18.5 x 18.5 x 0.4 inch
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The Tea At Fife O'Clock (Alice In Wonderland)
Kirill Postovit
Painting - 200 x 150 x 2 cm Painting - 78.7 x 59.1 x 0.8 inch
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Marilyn Takes It To The Streets
Ed Feingersh
Photography - 25 x 30 cm Photography - 9.8 x 11.8 inch
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Receiver 3
Margaret Neill
Fine Art Drawings - 74.9 x 55.9 cm Fine Art Drawings - 29.5 x 22 inch
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Immersion
Jade Dreyfuss
Fine Art Drawings - 124 x 84 x 4 cm Fine Art Drawings - 48.8 x 33.1 x 1.6 inch
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Agnès Varda - Les plages d'Agnès
Jean-Loup Gautreau
Photography - 30 x 40 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 inch
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Nous sommes tous des enfants
Jean Valera
Photography - 20 x 30 x 0.3 cm Photography - 7.9 x 11.8 x 0.1 inch
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Broadway-Simplon
Stéphane Martin
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.04 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
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Der Fackel laeufer
Leni Riefenstahl
Photography - 49.8 x 37.5 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.625 x 14.75 x 0.1 inch
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Skull Y Chaplin
Yions Schwenke
Photography - 120 x 80 x 2 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0.8 inch
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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!