Michel Pinel (1949 - 2022) - Model in the half-shadow - 2004

Modèle dans la mi-ombre / 2004
Original print made in the artist’s studio
Signature et cachet de l’artiste

Dimensions : 30 x 24 cm
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Artist: Michel Pinel 1949-2022

Taken in 2004, Modèle dans la mi-ombre reveals Michel Pinel’s mature mastery of chiaroscuro and his profound sensitivity to the nude form within intimate domestic spaces. The photograph captures a nude model seated on a wooden chair beside a window, bathed in strong natural side-lighting that dramatically illuminates one side of her body while plunging the other into rich, velvety shadow—precisely evoking the title “Model in the half-shadow.”

Hendes contemplative pose, with head gently bowed and eyes lowered, conveys quiet introspection. One hand rests on the chair arm while the other holds a lit cigarette, its small bright flame acting as a delicate counterpoint of light amid the surrounding darkness. The intense window light projects a large, expressive shadow of her figure onto the wall and floor, creating a powerful visual echo that heightens the sense of depth, mystery, and duality. Patterned curtains on the left and sparse furnishings (including a small piece of furniture in the background) anchor the scene in an everyday interior that becomes a theatrical stage for the interplay of light, form, and emotion.

Pinel’s masterful black-and-white printing sculpts the body with precision and grace, emphasizing soft tonal gradations across the skin while preserving the high-contrast drama of the composition. The image balances the organic curves of the figure with the geometric lines of the room, transforming a private moment into a meditation on presence and absence, exposure and retreat, sensuality and solitude.

Modèle dans la mi-ombre stands as a quintessential example of Michel Pinel’s refined aesthetic: a celebration of the human body rendered with technical excellence, emotional restraint, and luminous poetry.

Provenance:
Family collection of the photographer who died in 2022.


Michel Pinel 1949-2022
Born in 1949, after his studies in Cahors, he left for Milan, where he met the director Paul Casalini, who made him discover and love photography. He embarked on the profession, which quickly became his passion. Michel Pinel makes fashion photos. Adept of pure photography, he produces prints of remarkable quality in his workshop. He invests in what has become his favourite mode of expression: nude photographs, and exhibited internationally. His photos are also kept in private collections in Australia, Belgium, Spain, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal and the United States.