Sheila Metzner’s Color was published by Twin Palms Publishers in November 1991. The book is a retrospective of more than twenty years of her photography, moving from early prints of her children to portraits, tabletop still lifes, and southwestern landscapes, alongside her fashion photography. Metzner is credited as the photographer. The volume brings several areas of her practice into a single retrospective.

The defining feature of the book is its color. Metzner’s brilliantly colored Fresson prints are reproduced here, and some of the still lifes were printed and sometimes handpainted by the artist. The relationship between a photographic subject and its later treatment as a print is therefore part of the project’s interest. Twin Palms issued the volume in hardcover at roughly 9 by 12 inches, with 76 four-color plates across 172 pages.

Color brings together domestic intimacy, still life, landscape, and commissioned fashion. The range of subjects defines the book as much as any single image: early pictures of her children sit alongside portraits, tabletop compositions, and southwestern landscapes, together with her fashion work. A reader can consider the connections between these areas without requiring the subjects to have the same role in the photographer’s life.

Color remains a record of Metzner’s color printing. The Fresson process and handpainting are central to how the images appear on the page. The retrospective offers a way to compare the demands of different subjects while following a sustained attention to color. Looking across the book can raise questions about how a photograph changes when its printed form becomes an active part of its expression.