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Muguet-racine
Sébastien Chauchot
Photography - 40 x 35 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 13.8 x 0.4 inch
$448
Homme noir et blanc
Pascal Marlin
Fine Art Drawings - 50 x 33 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.7 x 13 x 0 inch
$448
Robert Smith - The Cure - The Top Wet in London - Derniers tirages
Pierre Terrasson
Photography - 40 x 50 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 inch
$2,803
Fil et aiguille
Pierre Boillon
Photography - 60 x 42 x 3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 16.5 x 1.2 inch
$605
Plume et encrier
Pierre Boillon
Photography - 60 x 42 x 3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 16.5 x 1.2 inch
$605
Bouteille et verre
Pierre Boillon
Photography - 60 x 42 x 3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 16.5 x 1.2 inch
$605
Urbain brutalisme - Photographie digigraphie (1) (10)
Claire Giraudeau
Photography - 70 x 50 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 inch
$280
Urbain brutalisme - Photographie digigraphie (1) (9)
Claire Giraudeau
Photography - 70 x 50 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 inch
$280
Urbain brutalisme - Photographie digigraphie (1) (8)
Claire Giraudeau
Photography - 70 x 50 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 inch
$280
Urbain brutalisme - Photographie digigraphie (1) (1)
Claire Giraudeau
Photography - 70 x 50 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 inch
$280
Urbain brutalisme - Photographie digigraphie (1)
Claire Giraudeau
Photography - 70 x 50 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 inch
$280
Urbain brutalisme - Photographie digigraphie
Claire Giraudeau
Photography - 70 x 50 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 inch
$280
Urbain brutalisme - Photographie digigraphie (1)
Claire Giraudeau
Photography - 70 x 50 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 inch
$280
Urbain brutalisme, Bleu Majorelle - Photographie digigraphie (3) (3)
Claire Giraudeau
Photography - 70 x 50 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 inch
$280
Urbain brutalisme - Photographie digigraphie
Claire Giraudeau
Photography - 70 x 50 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 inch
$280
Urbain brutalisme, Bleu Majorelle - Photographie digigraphie
Claire Giraudeau
Photography - 70 x 50 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 inch
$280
Flower totem print (black)
Robert Jaso
Photography - 26 x 26 x 3 cm Photography - 10.2 x 10.2 x 1.2 inch
$1,121
Jean Cocteau à Venise, Italie, 1948
Vittorio Pavan
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$673
La México. CDMX.
Andrés Calamaro
Photography - 40 x 60 x 2 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
$8,801
El Payo. Aguascalientes, México.
Andrés Calamaro
Photography - 40 x 60 x 2 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
$8,801
Où est Charlie ? IX
Tanguy Mendrisse
Photography - 24 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 9.4 x 11.8 x 0 inch
$140
Fantastique noir et blanc n°18
François Lork
Print - 29.7 x 21 x 1 cm Print - 11.7 x 8.3 x 0.4 inch
$303
Fantastique noir et blanc n°1
François Lork
Print - 29.7 x 21 x 1 cm Print - 11.7 x 8.3 x 0.4 inch
$303
Fantastique noir et blanc n°9
François Lork
Print - 29.7 x 21 x 1 cm Print - 11.7 x 8.3 x 0.4 inch
$303
Swift (Identity promises series)
Imanol Marrodán
Photography - 30 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 17.7 x 0 inch
$561
Anboto, Mari's home (Identity Testimonies series)
Imanol Marrodán
Photography - 30 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 17.7 x 0 inch
$561
Empire
Guillaume Chansarel (Guiyome)
Painting - 200 x 200 x 4 cm Painting - 78.7 x 78.7 x 1.6 inch
$11,211
Golden Tears - Black Swan
Anna Ahmatovic
Painting - 100 x 100 x 4 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.6 inch
$4,484
Les arbres royaux
Nicolas Le Beuan Bénic
Photography - 100 x 100 x 0.1 cm Photography - 39.4 x 39.4 x 0 inch
$628
Le temple d'argent au Japon
Thierry Bazin
Photography - 37 x 37 x 0.5 cm Photography - 14.6 x 14.6 x 0.2 inch
$549
Pont - Domaine de Chamarande - Essonne
Thierry Bazin
Photography - 37 x 37 x 0.5 cm Photography - 14.6 x 14.6 x 0.2 inch
$549
Le Quai aux fleurs à Paris - série bords de Seine
Thierry Bazin
Photography - 27 x 27 x 0.5 cm Photography - 10.6 x 10.6 x 0.2 inch
$325
Oromo Lady of Bati
John Kenny
Photography - 67 x 45 x 2 cm Photography - 26.4 x 17.7 x 0.8 inch
$3,314
Beauty in the Sahel
John Kenny
Photography - 67 x 45 x 2 cm Photography - 26.4 x 17.7 x 0.8 inch
$2,585
Au-delà de nous-même 2
Clara Cena
Photography - 30 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 17.7 x 0 inch
$561
Ballerina IV
Tanguy Mendrisse
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$219
Rembrandt, Frederick Rihel
Lucio Forte
Painting - 29 x 22 x 0.1 cm Painting - 11.4 x 8.7 x 0 inch
$146
Samburu shepherd
John Kenny
Photography - 90 x 60 x 2 cm Photography - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
$3,314
The River Barysh
Alexander Sviyazov
Sculpture - 41 x 24.5 x 17.5 cm Sculpture - 16.1 x 9.6 x 6.9 inch
$8,969
Kate Moss Venice Beach I
Christoph Martin Schmid
Photography - 44 x 33 cm Photography - 17.3 x 13 inch
$897
Abstraction #6
Carlos Arriagada
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$1,401
Abstraction #5
Carlos Arriagada
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$1,570
Abstraction #4
Carlos Arriagada
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$1,570
Abstraction #3
Carlos Arriagada
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$1,401
Abstraction #2
Carlos Arriagada
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$1,570
Abstraction #1
Carlos Arriagada
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$1,401
La vie est belle
Udo Roosen
Photography - 40 x 30 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
$1,009
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!