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Marguerite Duras chez elle à Paris
Pascal Baril
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0 inch
€500
Portrait de Manu Dibango
Claude Vesco
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0 inch
€500
Portrait de Sonny Stitt
Claude Vesco
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
€500
Portrait de Chick Corea
Claude Vesco
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
€500
Come tell where it hurts (diptych)
Christa David
Photography - 121.9 x 91.4 x 0.3 cm Photography - 48 x 36 x 0.1 inch
€4,800
Kara et ses oreilles
Fatoumata Diabaté
Photography - 100 x 66 x 2 cm Photography - 39.4 x 26 x 0.8 inch
€3,000
Rhythmogramm 183 A
Heinrich Heidersberger
Photography - 59.4 x 42 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.4 x 16.5 x 0 inch
€1,350
CyClOpS - Format L
Louis Blanc
Photography - 70 x 70 x 1 cm Photography - 27.6 x 27.6 x 0.4 inch
€5,250
Queen of Flowers - Format XS
Clara Diebler
Photography - 12 x 8 x 1 cm Photography - 4.7 x 3.1 x 0.4 inch
€100
A view from Untzillatx (Identity Revelations series)
Imanol Marrodán
Photography - 30 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 17.7 x 0 inch
€900
Under The Moon's Pale Light
Sinden Collier
Photography - 41 x 51 x 0.1 cm Photography - 16.1 x 20.1 x 0 inch
€1,600
Quand je ferme les yeux
Sinden Collier
Photography - 51 x 41 x 0.1 cm Photography - 20.1 x 16.1 x 0 inch
€1,600
Thoughts Beyond
Sinden Collier
Photography - 41 x 51 x 0.1 cm Photography - 16.1 x 20.1 x 0 inch
€1,600
Silence de Lumière
Sinden Collier
Photography - 51 x 41 x 0.1 cm Photography - 20.1 x 16.1 x 0 inch
€1,600
Las Memorías
James Sparshatt
Photography - 80 x 120 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 47.2 x 0 inch
€3,079
No44 Spirit Series
Yevgeniy Repiashenko
Photography - 100 x 100 x 3.5 cm Photography - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.4 inch
€3,640
Queen of Flowers - Format S
Clara Diebler
Photography - 30 x 20 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 7.9 x 0.4 inch
€150
Aus dem Gruppenbuch der Christiane P. - „Es Gibt Nur Eine Wahrheit.“
Matthias Leupold
Photography - 50 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
€900
Hilton Falls - 13309
Simeon Posen
Photography - 25.4 x 30.5 x 5.1 cm Photography - 10 x 12 x 2 inch
€871
Rockies - 152101
Simeon Posen
Photography - 25.4 x 30.5 x 5.1 cm Photography - 10 x 12 x 2 inch
€871
Hector Falls - 121702
Simeon Posen
Photography - 25.4 x 30.5 x 5.1 cm Photography - 10 x 12 x 2 inch
€871
Watkin's Glen - 121302
Simeon Posen
Photography - 15.2 x 17.8 x 5.1 cm Photography - 6 x 7 x 2 inch
€871
L'Arbre du Lac
Sinden Collier
Photography - 41 x 61 x 0.1 cm Photography - 16.1 x 24 x 0 inch
€1,600
Jean-Paul Belmondo
Pascal Baril
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
€450
Un jardin pour Eugène D. #04
FLORE Photographer
Photography - 50 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
€3,200
Mikhail Baryshnikov, American Ballet Theatre - NYC
Eve Arnold
Photography - 40.6 x 30.5 x 5.1 cm Photography - 16 x 12 x 2 inch
€2,274
New York, Model, Drusilla Dru Beyfus.
Eve Arnold
Photography - 30.5 x 40.6 x 5.1 cm Photography - 12 x 16 x 2 inch
€2,274
Sylvana Mangano (ITA), at the Museum of Modern Art, USA
Eve Arnold
Photography - 30.5 x 40.6 x 5.1 cm Photography - 12 x 16 x 2 inch
€2,274
Rhythmogramm Klangfläche
Heinrich Heidersberger
Photography - 30 x 24 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 9.4 x 0 inch
€8,400
Rhythmogramm Verzeichnis Nr: 03782_000_253
Heinrich Heidersberger
Photography - 24 x 18 x 0.1 cm Photography - 9.4 x 7.1 x 0 inch
€5,800
Mandy Smith
Pierre Terrasson
Photography - 40 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 x 0 inch
€1,500
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!