Episode 48: Denis Piel
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Denis Piel, Back Stage, March 25, 1988.
If you’ve ever looked through a 1980s issue of Vogue, you’ve seen Denis Piel’s work—combining storytelling and photography, his editorials have a cinematic, narrative quality that spools out across the pages. Contracted with Condé Nast from 1979 to 1990, he shot more than 1000 editorial spreads and celebrity portraits for the American, German, Italian, French, and British editions of Vogue, along with Vanity Fair, Self, and GQ.
His story began in France, where he was born to members of the French resistance in 1944. After the war, his family moved to Australia to start over. As he spoke about in our interview, Piel began a photographic career while still a teen. He opened his own studio in Brisbane in 1966, mostly shooting advertising work. A small job for Vogue Australia led him to move to Melbourne, where he began to focus on fashion photography. After moving to Europe in the early 1970s, he shot for many of the hippest young fashion magazines, like French Elle and Honey. After a brief time focusing on art photography, technology, and holograms, in 1979, Piel moved to New York, where his work for the New York Times Magazine brought him to the attention of Alexander Liberman, the legendary art director of American Vogue. Liberman became a mentor to Piel, bringing him into the Condé Nast fold and giving him the kind of contract that every photographer dreams of and few achieve (Avedon and Penn are some of the only others).
An ad for Piel’s film company, Jupiter Films, published in Back Stage, December 20, 1985.
Sensual and cinematic, his fashion and beauty photos always seemed to be telling a story, hinting at a mysterious narrative. For Piel, he found inspiration in the work of directors like François Truffaut and Stanley Kubrick, rather than other photographers. Perhaps it's unsurprising that the world of cinema came to him; in 1983, Denis Piel was asked to be technical advisor on the James Toback film Exposed, which starred Ian McShane as a fashion photographer modeled on Piel. Inspired by his experience on set, he decided to start directing; in 1985, Piel established a film production company, Jupiter Films, and began shooting commercials, most famously with Rosemary McGrotha for Donna Karan. He was awarded the Leica Medal of Excellence for Commercial Photography in 1987. After he left Condé Nast to concentrate on directing in 1990, Denis continued to shoot commercials while also making a feature-length documentary, Love is Blind. Following blind couples as they fell in love and married, it premiered in 1995. In the early 2000s, Denis and his family left New York and moved permanently to a Renaissance chateau in South-West France, Château de Padiès. There, he became deeply interested in sustainable agriculture.
Since then, he has focused on art photography, much of it inspired by the Chateau’s gardens and local environment. Many of his photographic series have been exhibited and published as books. Moments, the first monograph of Piel’s work, was published by Rizzoli in September 2012. In 2020, Piel published three books: EXPOSED, FILMSCAPES, and PLATESCAPES. He continues to photograph, primarily focusing on his Padièscapes series; described by his NYC gallery, Staley-Wise, as “colorful and abstracted,” the Padièscapes are “work which celebrates nature in flowers and gardens. These images are a departure from the fashion pictures of Piel’s early career, but reflect his continued interest in the environment and humanity.”
An editorial Denis Piel photographed for Vogue (October 1980), featuring Kelly LeBrock and illustrating his trademark storytelling:
An interview with Denis from Back Stage, November 13, 1987:
Donna Karan New York by Denis Piel (1985):
“Facescapes” by Denis Piel:
Denis Piel’s documentary, Love is Blind (1995):
A few examples of Piel’s Padièscapes - many more can be viewed on his website:
