On view October 31, 2023–February 18, 2024 at the Getty Center, Sheila Metzner: From Life celebrates the artistry of this internationally acclaimed photographer who has made her mark on the history of late 20th-century photography, especially in the areas of fashion and still life.
“Metzner’s unique style blends aspects of Pictorialism and Modernism to forge a distinctively refined and composed aesthetic,” says Timothy Potts, Maria Hummer-Tuttle and Robert Tuttle Director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. “Her unique visual sensibility stands out in the history of photography, and has become synonymous with the best of 1980s fashion, beauty, and decorative arts.”
Metzner was born in Brooklyn, New York, to working-class Jewish parents. She majored in visual communications at the Pratt Institute and received her BFA in 1960. She worked as an art director for several advertising agencies, including Doyle Dane-Bernbach (DDB Worldwide) where she became the first woman to hold that position. In 1968, Metzner married the creative director and graphic designer Jeffrey Metzner and started a family. Inspired by 19th-century British photographer Julia Margaret Cameron, Metzner decided to take up photography.
Working at night, she taught herself how to use the camera, develop negatives, and make prints. After a decade of practice, she was offered her first solo exhibition at Daniel Wolf Inc., New York, in 1978. That same year, she was invited to participate in the group show Mirrors and Windows at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Commissions for editorial photography followed and her portraits and fashion photographs frequently appeared in Vanity Fair and Vogue. Metzner’s list of commercial clients grew quickly and included top design houses and beauty brands such as Chanel, Elizabeth Arden, Fendi, Ralph Lauren, Shiseido, and Valentino, among others.
She frequently employs the Fresson process, a patented carbon printing technique that yields soft tonalities and muted colors. Metzner’s unique style blends aspects of Pictorialism and Modernism—an aesthetic that stands out in the history of photography.
“Sheila Metzner is renowned for her sensitively composed images that transcend the ephemeral nature of the magazine page as well as for the painterly beauty of her color prints,” says Paul Martineau, curator of the exhibition. “The artist and I worked together to select the best examples from her archive for this exhibition, which showcases more than three decades of her creative inspiration.”
Sheila Metzner: From Life is curated by Paul Martineau, curator in the Department of Photographs at the Getty Museum.