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San Clemente
Raymond Depardon
Photography - 30 x 44 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 17.3 x 0.4 inch
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Contrôle des papiers
Jean-Michel Landon
Photography - 50 x 75 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 29.5 x 0 inch
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Sarah Moon Portfolio, printed and bound, 10 Gelatin Silver Prints
Sarah Moon
Photography - 54 x 41.3 x 5.1 cm Photography - 21.25 x 16.25 x 2 inch
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Sentint l'aire
Teresa Riba
Fine Art Drawings - 130 x 100 cm Fine Art Drawings - 51.2 x 39.4 inch
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Marilyn in Famous Black Dress (1962)
Bert Stern
Photography - 48 x 33 x 1 cm Photography - 18.9 x 13 x 0.4 inch
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Die Olympischen Ringe (The Olympic Rings)
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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Marilyn Monroe Contact Strip
Ed Feingersh
Photography - 101 x 76 cm Photography - 39.8 x 29.9 inch
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L.In the sky with gooses
Fabrice Dimier
Photography - 50 x 75 x 0.3 cm Photography - 19.7 x 29.5 x 0.1 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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100-197 14 (NG69)
Nicolas Galtier
Painting - 100 x 100 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
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N°100-80 11 (NG56)
Nicolas Galtier
Painting - 100 x 100 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
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Mare #331
Alessandro Puccinelli
Photography - 100 x 150 x 5 cm Photography - 39.4 x 59.1 x 2 inch
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La basilique Saint-Marc et et Campanile, Venise
Charles Malle
Fine Art Drawings - 48 x 62 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 18.9 x 24.4 x 0 inch
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Hedy, Watch The Stars (Hedy Lamarr, The Inventor)
Pure Evil
Print - 85 x 70 cm Print - 33.5 x 27.6 inch
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Upper Glasses Royal Ascot
Arthur Steel
Photography - 48 x 61 x 1 cm Photography - 18.9 x 24 x 0.4 inch
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Martin Luther King, Vintage Photograph
Leonard Freed
Photography - 27.9 x 35.6 cm Photography - 11 x 14 inch
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L'Enfer me ment (31)
Richard Laillier
Fine Art Drawings - 20 x 15 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 7.9 x 5.9 x 0.4 inch
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L'Artiste
Christiane Simon-Roques
Painting - 100 x 100 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 0.8 inch
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Masque de Kuntermann
Christophe Charbonnel
Sculpture - 60 x 27 x 21 cm Sculpture - 23.6 x 10.6 x 8.3 inch
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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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Serge visant au F2 Nikon
Pierre Terrasson
Photography - 50 x 40 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 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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Composition avec du Rose
Stuart Christian Möller
Painting - 61 x 51 x 5 cm Painting - 24 x 20.1 x 2 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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L'autre monde
Shérazade (Sher) Auclair
Photography - 50 x 70 x 2 cm Photography - 19.7 x 27.6 x 0.8 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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Horizon - Black and White Landscape
Gina Vor
Painting - 15 x 18 x 0.3 cm Painting - 5.9 x 7.1 x 0.1 inch
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Two sides of the same coin
Christa David
Photography - 25.4 x 22.86 x 2 cm Photography - 10 x 9 x 0.8 inch
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Souk des tanneurs, Fès
José Nicolas
Photography - 40 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 x 0 inch
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La Nuit au Chalet 1935
Willy Ronis
Photography - 30 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
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Intermezzo 2
Margaret Neill
Fine Art Drawings - 55.9 x 53.3 cm Fine Art Drawings - 22 x 21 inch
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Institut II
Michaël Brack
Fine Art Drawings - 36 x 26 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 14.2 x 10.2 x 0 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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Ikit's Drop Knee (Landscape)
Archie Geotina
Photography - 60.96 x 88.9 cm Photography - 24 x 35 inch
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Marilyn Getting Ready To Go Out (1955)
Ed Feingersh
Photography - 76 x 51 cm Photography - 29.9 x 20.1 inch
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Broadway, New York
Pierre Boulat
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.3 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.1 inch
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Cave rue de la Huchette, Saint Germain
Willy Ronis
Photography - 30 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.4 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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Photo-respiration 1998 Yura #340
Tokihiro Sato
Photography - 33 x 48.3 cm Photography - 13 x 19 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!