Black and white
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OverSide
Photography - 70 x 50 x 0.5 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0.2 inch
$391
Notre-Dame de Paris
Justina Napiorkowska
Photography - 30 x 30 cm Photography - 11.8 x 11.8 inch
$279
Céréales 3
Sébastien Chauchot
Photography - 40 x 35 x 1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 13.8 x 0.4 inch
$391 $352
Defining Shadows II
Maureen J Haldeman
Photography - 101.6 x 76.2 x 0.6 cm Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.25 inch
$1,400
Tingel-tangel II
Leszek Rózga
Fine Art Drawings - 16 x 31 cm Fine Art Drawings - 6.3 x 12.2 inch
$781
H
Eugénie Lichet
Fine Art Drawings - 29.7 x 21 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.7 x 8.3 x 0 inch
$112
Architecture 14
Gonçalo Martins
Photography - 19.5 x 19.5 x 0.1 cm Photography - 7.7 x 7.7 x 0 inch
$145
Reflet - Autoportrait
Valérie Abadie
Fine Art Drawings - 44 x 56 x 0.2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 17.3 x 22 x 0.1 inch
$4,465 $4,019
Growing space VII
Gergana Tabakova
Fine Art Drawings - 25 x 25 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 9.8 x 9.8 x 0 inch
$558
In-between B1
Nikolay Stefanov
Photography - 120 x 80 x 0.2 cm Photography - 47.2 x 31.5 x 0.1 inch
$1,574
Breathe It In
Rika Maja Duevel
Photography - 50 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$1,351
Hendrix Contact Sheet
Robert Knight
Photography - 76.2 x 101.6 x 5.1 cm Photography - 30 x 40 x 2 inch
$1,750
1999-New Orleans - Black and White Photograph of Woman on New Orleans Street Car
Jean-Luc Fievet
Photography - 100.3 x 149.9 cm Photography - 39.5 x 59 inch
$3,900
THOT au WSOP
Toma Jankowski
Fine Art Drawings - 50 x 65 x 2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.7 x 25.6 x 0.8 inch
$1,898
Repos II - série oiseaux
Henry Ausloos
Photography - 40 x 80 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 31.5 x 0 inch
$1,535
Free Spirit nº1
Pierre Cherix
Photography - 70 x 50 x 0.2 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$502
Abstraction urbaine #5
Guillaume Chevallard
Photography - 49 x 69 x 2.9 cm Photography - 19.3 x 27.2 x 1.1 inch
$1,340
Féraud 1970 Black Sculpture Abstraction
Albert Féraud
Photography - 40 x 28 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11 inch
$2,121
Senegal 2020, Horizon des événements
Hubert Lebaudy
Photography - 60 x 80 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0.4 inch
$1,898
The music inside
Andreas Sundgren
Photography - 140 x 105 x 0.1 cm Photography - 55.1 x 41.3 x 0 inch
$1,799
Série Paysages effacés - Paysage du Cotentin 4
Olivier Pasquiers
Photography - 60 x 80 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0.4 inch
$748
Paris 13 ème "Olympiades Vibes N°2" (XL)
Papa Mesk
Photography - 160 x 90 x 1 cm Photography - 63 x 35.4 x 0.4 inch
$1,786
Manufactura 3
Oriol Texidor
Photography - 40 x 50 x 7 cm Photography - 15.7 x 19.7 x 2.8 inch
$1,407
Catherine Deneuve, France
Raymond Depardon
Photography - 61 x 45.7 x 5.1 cm Photography - 24 x 18 x 2 inch
$1,350
Mostar Bridge
Ludovic Careme
Photography - 40 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$1,507
Collection Ville Autrement / Nice Autrement / Divin
Franck Doat
Photography - 30 x 25 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 9.8 x 0 inch
$614
Petit labyrinthe
Paul Richard Mason
Fine Art Drawings - 21 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 8.3 x 11.7 x 0 inch
$2,121
A l'abri des regards
Alain Longeaud
Photography - 50 x 65 x 0.5 cm Photography - 19.7 x 25.6 x 0.2 inch
$1,395
In Flow V
Melanie Dulson
Fine Art Drawings - 60 x 44 x 0.01 cm Fine Art Drawings - 23.6 x 17.3 x 0 inch
$1,060
Twickenham Streaker
Ian Bradshaw
Photography - 30 x 42.5 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 16.7 x 0 inch
$2,177
Fille aux sacs poubelles
Eugenia Jaeger
Fine Art Drawings - 50 x 70 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.7 x 27.6 inch
$893
Murs d'equilibrisme
Bel Mur
Painting - 119.9 x 119.9 x 0.5 cm Painting - 47.2 x 47.2 x 0.2 inch
$3,077
Sans Titre (Mains positives, Mains négatives)
David Prudhomme
Print - 78 x 114 cm Print - 30.7 x 44.9 inch
$1,116
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!