While the series remains unnamed, The completed body of work showcases three detailed prints in a modernistic approach to female bodyscapes, exploring shape and texture, as well as the similarities between nature and natural objects, reflecting Matthieu’s childhood love of the outdoors. The series draws conceptual influence from the photographic series “Dunes Oceano” by American photographer Edward Weston, as well as various nude and fruit photographs—such as “Pepper No. 30”—in an attempt to abstract models until they resemble rocks and landforms. Additionally, it is significantly influenced by the English commercial advertising photographer Jonathan Knowles’ private collection portfolio “Bodyscapes.”
The first image in the series is inspired by both Edward Weston’s “Dunes Oceano” and Jonathan Knowles’ April 2018 private collection portfolio “Bodyscapes.” While deeply explored in the third image, this piece begins to abstract the model to replicate the look of a landscape.
Overall, the image employs soft lighting to create a contrast between highlights and shadows, utilizing much of the lower space. It aims to focus on the texture of human skin—similar to how Weston’s dunes examine the texture of sand—but is only somewhat successful due to a slightly shallow depth of field, with the focal plane centered on the belly piercing. This could be improved with the use of a smaller aperture or focus stacking. Matthieu creates a sense of scale—or a lack thereof—with the tight framing of the model’s midriff, and the isolation from the rest of the body helps to emphasize the artist’s vision of abstracting the human form into a pseudo-landscape.
The second image in the series, nicknamed “the pear photo” by Matthieu’s peers, draws direct influence from Edward Weston’s 1930 photograph “Pepper No. 30.” While Weston’s fruit photograph explores the anthropomorphic qualities of the sensuous folds of the pepper, Matthieu explores the reverse qualities in the human form, shaping the model to resemble a pear.
Again, the artist has utilized soft lighting to contrast between highlights and shadows; however, this is less successful than in the first image. The tension arises from the high-contrast foot “leaf/stem,” which catches the eye first, while the thighs “pear body” have lesser contrast yet hold more weight in the photo. Viewers can see the emulation attempt of “Pepper No. 30,” but it could be improved by incorporating lower and/or more lights to highlight the edges of the thighs. The overall symmetry of the image creates an even balance, while the texture of the supporting surface of the model creates leading lines toward the subject. The final image could benefit from a greater depth of field to emphasize more texture on the thighs—rather than just on the calf—yet overall, Matthieu’s vision of exploring the fruit-like qualities of the human form (juxtaposed with Weston’s exploration of the anthropomorphic qualities of the pepper) is successful.
The third and final image in the series mainly draws influence from Jonathan Knowles’ April 2018 private collection portfolio “Bodyscapes” and generally from Edward Weston’s “Dunes Oceano.” Similar to Matthieu’s second image in the series, this piece deeply explores the abstraction of the model to resemble rocks or landforms such as hills or mountains. Conceptually, this is the strongest image in the series. The artist’s vision of abstracting the human form to look like a landform is emphasized through the contrast of soft highlights and shadows. This image has the greatest depth of field in the series, allowing the textures of the skin to prevail in representing a mountainous landform. This is further highlighted through the inclusion of stretch marks (similar to water channels and cut-outs), which contrasts with traditional portraiture that often omits them. The use of scale through framing again emphasizes Matthieu’s vision of abstracting the human form, though it could be improved with a slightly closer crop to reduce the elements weighing down the top left corner. Overall, the image is mostly balanced, with the body curving in a valley-like fashion.
The series is presented as three A3 inkjet prints, printed on Ilford Smooth Pearl Paper and arranged in a single row. The linear presentation links all three images together as a series while also presenting them as individual pieces. The resulting body of work revolves around the conceptual idea of shape and texture found in nature and natural objects, and their relation and similarity to the human body. Overall, the series successfully captures Matthieu’s vision of exploring the relationship between nature, natural objects, and the human bodyscape, while leaving room for potential improvement and further development in the future.