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Circumambulate. The Doldrums, from the series "SPAR/CUBA"
Paul Meleschnig
Photography - 30.5 x 20.3 x 0.3 cm Photography - 12 x 8 x 0.1 inch
$1,500
Mont moderne
Aurélien Desbois
Fine Art Drawings - 50 x 30 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.7 x 11.8 inch
$568
Wicked Game | Ponza, Italy
Serge Guerand
Photography - 53 x 80 cm Photography - 20.9 x 31.5 inch
$2,251
Yosemite National Park. USA on the road
Tina Smeraldi
Photography - 40 x 60 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 inch
$1,989
Senza titolo
Elio Marcucci
Fine Art Drawings - 25 x 30 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 9.8 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
$375
White Sea#3
Fabian Albertini
Photography - 150 x 120 x 3 cm Photography - 59.1 x 47.2 x 1.2 inch
$8,526
Your hand+mine= love #MyMum
Udo Roosen
Photography - 80 x 60 x 1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$2,274
Frank Zappa, Fillmore East, NYC, 1968
Elliott Landy
Photography - 45.5 x 61 x 0.1 cm Photography - 17.9 x 24 x 0 inch
$1,137
Lichtmalerei 180.18.2003
Karl-Martin Holzhäuser
Photography - 133 x 133 x 5 cm Photography - 52.4 x 52.4 x 2 inch
$36,377
Ying Yang
Alex Pariss
Fine Art Drawings - 140 x 110 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 55.1 x 43.3 x 0.4 inch
$1,137
La Nageuse - Série Clope
Johan Desma
Photography - 80 x 120 cm Photography - 31.5 x 47.2 inch
$2,148
Portrait de Paul Gauguin
George-Daniel de Monfreid
Print - 17.3 x 12.2 x 0.1 cm Print - 6.8 x 4.8 x 0 inch
$5,570
Photographie de John Steinbeck
Roy Schatt
Photography - 24 x 23 x 1 cm Photography - 9.4 x 9.1 x 0.4 inch
$784
The music inside
Andreas Sundgren
Photography - 140 x 105 x 0.1 cm Photography - 55.1 x 41.3 x 0 inch
$3,471
This is so Illegal
Yann Merran
Photography - 60 x 90 x 2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0.8 inch
$796
Ours au poisson
Jean-Michel Chesné
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 50 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 19.7 inch
$966
Barrio Chino, Barcelona
Henri Cartier Bresson
Photography - 56 x 37.8 x 0.1 cm Photography - 22 x 14.9 x 0 inch
$9,753
Secret Invasion
Lenil Yu
Fine Art Drawings - 44 x 28 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 17.3 x 11 x 0.4 inch
$2,956
Adriana Rayén
Diego Echevers Torrez
Photography - 33 x 33 x 0.1 cm Photography - 13 x 13 x 0 inch
$1,468
Christian Lattier Portrait
Christian Lattier
Photography - 17.5 x 16.5 cm Photography - 6.9 x 6.5 inch
$5,570
Voir les yeux fermés - sans titre #19
Fabrice Domenet
Photography - 30 x 30 cm Photography - 11.8 x 11.8 inch
$1,250
View of Rotterdam
Ria Klaveren-Exel
Print - 46.3 x 57.5 x 0.2 cm Print - 18.2 x 22.6 x 0.1 inch
$455
Tenerife, Anaga Forest
Fabien Olart
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$568
''Gunina''en Givenchy, Paris le 5 Août 1955 Elle Magazine
Georges Dambier
Photography - 74 x 68 x 2 cm Photography - 29.1 x 26.8 x 0.8 inch
$3,979
Junior
Klaus Roethlisberger
Photography - 70 x 53 x 0.2 cm Photography - 27.6 x 20.9 x 0.1 inch
$614
Children of Bafmeng / Their life-Cameroon
Gilbert Ryu
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$853
Sourire Parisien
La Fabrique du Sourire
Fine Art Drawings - 21 x 15 cm Fine Art Drawings - 8.3 x 5.9 inch
$284
Sin título (Prayer Flags Series)
Imanol Marrodán
Sculpture - 45 x 52 x 0.5 cm Sculpture - 17.7 x 20.5 x 0.2 inch
$251
Belmondo / Paris Match (1)
Gragnon François
Photography - 75 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 29.5 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$2,274
Truffaut, 1966 / Paris Match
Philippe Le Tellier
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$682
Temporality 1
Edin Mustafic
Photography - 51 x 37.5 x 1.5 cm Photography - 20.1 x 14.8 x 0.6 inch
$682
Servitude, Tome 3, Planche 31
Eric Bourgier
Fine Art Drawings - 65 x 47 cm Fine Art Drawings - 25.6 x 18.5 inch
$4,547
Dietrich / Paris Match
Paul Slade
Photography - 80 x 53 x 0.1 cm Photography - 31.5 x 20.9 x 0 inch
$1,819
Guerre d'Algérie, 1962
Maurice Jarnoux
Photography - 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch
$682
Kelly, Aumont / Paris Match
Jack Garofalo & Michou Simon
Photography - 55 x 55 x 0.1 cm Photography - 21.7 x 21.7 x 0 inch
$1,819
Paris - Passage de la Voûte
Vladimir Bazan
Photography - 49 x 38 x 1 cm Photography - 19.3 x 15 x 0.4 inch
$637
Lis Lève toi et Marche
Olivier Rebecq
Photography - 75 x 50 x 1 cm Photography - 29.5 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
$659
Elliptic, recherche n°7
Clémentine Chambon
Fine Art Drawings - 40.8 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 16.1 x 11.7 x 0 inch
$796
1 - La descente de Persephone
Mita Vostok
Photography - 60 x 40 x 1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$909
Charito Zarate Torino
Ryan Arbilo
Photography - 50 x 70 x 1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 27.6 x 0.4 inch
$909
Chanel Haute Couture
Bruno Bisang
Photography - 80 x 60 x 4 cm Photography - 31.5 x 23.6 x 1.6 inch
$4,547
The Tiger
Maria Ginzburg
Fine Art Drawings - 48 x 70 x 0.2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 18.9 x 27.6 x 0.1 inch
$398
Johanna, Courrèges Haute couture, Champs-Elysées, Paris
Peter Knapp
Photography - 21.2 x 21.2 x 0.5 cm Photography - 8.3 x 8.3 x 0.2 inch
$4,092
Serie Vera y Victoria
Mar Sáez
Photography - 48 x 68 x 3 cm Photography - 18.9 x 26.8 x 1.2 inch
$682
Famille Pignatelli, Rome, 1987
Patrick Faigenbaum
Photography - 50.2 x 60.8 cm Photography - 19.8 x 23.9 inch
$1,705
Richard Wright, Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii
Jacques Boumendil
Photography - 30 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$739
Nicolas de Staël dans son atelier
Denise Colomb
Photography - 30.8 x 38 cm Photography - 12.1 x 15 inch
$1,819
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!