Black and white
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Des culs et des cailloux n°1
Manon Deck-Sablon
Photography - 20 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 7.9 x 11.8 x 0 inch
$168
Lost and Found
Maud Chalard
Photography - 40 x 53.3 x 2 cm Photography - 15.7 x 21 x 0.8 inch
$1,794
Arabesque
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 91 x 91 x 0.1 cm Photography - 35.8 x 35.8 x 0 inch
$1,654
Three Graces
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 90 x 90 x 0.1 cm Photography - 35.4 x 35.4 x 0 inch
$1,654
No05 SPIRIT Series
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 90 x 90 x 0.1 cm Photography - 35.4 x 35.4 x 0 inch
$1,654
No10 SPIRIT Series
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 90 x 72 x 0.1 cm Photography - 35.4 x 28.3 x 0 inch
$1,654
Marilyn in black white scarf
Bert Stern
Photography - 48 x 33 cm Photography - 18.9 x 13 inch
$2,792
F0648 - The warrior
Idan Wizen
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$2,018
Baignade dans la Loire
Julie Peiffer
Photography - 70 x 125 cm Photography - 27.6 x 49.2 inch
$1,906
No16 SPIRIT Series
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 91.4 x 91.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 36 x 36 x 0.1 inch
$1,665
No43 SPIRIT Series
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 91 x 91 x 0.1 cm Photography - 35.8 x 35.8 x 0 inch
$1,654
No40 SPIRIT Series
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 91 x 91 x 0.1 cm Photography - 35.8 x 35.8 x 0 inch
$1,654
Petite fille au Ballon Paris rue de Rivoli
Pierre Schwartz
Photography - 100 x 80 cm Photography - 39.4 x 31.5 inch
$1,570
"Pearls" la dernière séance (1962)
Bert Stern
Photography - 26 x 37 x 2 cm Photography - 10.2 x 14.6 x 0.8 inch
$2,231
Flower power
Cécile Baldewyns
Photography - 75 x 50 x 0.5 cm Photography - 29.5 x 19.7 x 0.2 inch
$953
Do it yourself, France.
Uwe Ommer
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$1,900
Do it yourself, France.
Uwe Ommer
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$1,900
Do it yourself, France.
Uwe Ommer
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$1,900
Do it yourself, France.
Uwe Ommer
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$1,900
Let There Be Light! #2
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$213
Let There Be Light! #5
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$213
Miranda as Cerynitis
Laurence Winram
Photography - 84.1 x 59.4 x 0.2 cm Photography - 33.1 x 23.4 x 0.1 inch
$636
No57 SPIRIT Series
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 50.8 x 50.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 20 x 20 x 0.1 inch
$880
Anne
Philippe Pasqua
Fine Art Drawings - 240 x 150 x 10 cm Fine Art Drawings - 94.5 x 59.1 x 3.9 inch
$19,059
OMO: Untitled 6
Drew Doggett
Photography - 48.3 x 68.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19 x 27 x 0.1 inch
$1,650
Do it yourself, France.
Uwe Ommer
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$1,900
Do it yourself, France.
Uwe Ommer
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$1,900
Do it yourself, France.
Uwe Ommer
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$1,900
Climbing II, Paris
Uwe Ommer
Photography - 37 x 30 x 0.3 cm Photography - 14.6 x 11.8 x 0.1 inch
$1,900
Genesis
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 90 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 35.4 x 0 inch
$2,937
No70 SPIRIT Series
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 96 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 37.8 x 0 inch
$2,937
No10 SPIRIT Series
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 120 x 96 x 0.1 cm Photography - 47.2 x 37.8 x 0 inch
$2,937
Let There Be Light! #13
Grzegorz Sikorski
Photography - 60 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$213
Lost and Found
Maud Chalard
Photography - 60 x 40 x 2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0.8 inch
$1,794
Man’s hand: From Motion Series
Ricky Cohete
Photography - 91.4 x 61 x 0.3 cm Photography - 36 x 24 x 0.1 inch
$2,222
A set of 3 Polaroids from the Do it Yourself Series
Uwe Ommer
Photography - 10.1 x 7.6 x 0.3 cm Photography - 4 x 3 x 0.1 inch
$1,500
OMO: Untitled 13
Drew Doggett
Photography - 68.6 x 45.7 x 0.3 cm Photography - 27 x 18 x 0.1 inch
$1,650
Mia Villiers-Farrow on a bed
Diane Arbus
Photography - 35.56 x 35.56 cm Photography - 14 x 14 inch
$18,498
Nu (série, croquis)
Kitty Sabatier
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 30 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
$617
Nu (série, croquis)
Kitty Sabatier
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 30 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
$617
Bright Night 2
Thomas Louvagny
Photography - 60 x 45 x 3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 17.7 x 1.2 inch
$729
Women not Allowed
Thomas Louvagny
Photography - 60 x 45 x 3 cm Photography - 23.6 x 17.7 x 1.2 inch
$729
Bettie Page Clutching Robe
Bunny Yeager
Photography - 61 x 50.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 24 x 20 x 0.1 inch
$5,000
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!