Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Peter Howard Selz

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.selz99
Creators:
Selz, Peter Howard, 1919-2019
Karlstrom, Paul J.
Dates:
1999 November 3
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
25 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of Peter Selz conducted 1999 November 3, by Paul J. Karlstrom, for the Archives of American Art, in Selz's home, Berkeley, California.
Scope and Contents
This interview was conducted at Selz's request to provide a narrative conversation for a catalogue to accompany "Cross-Currents in Modern Art: A Tribute to Peter Selz," an exhibition at Achim Moeller Gallery in New York City, February 2 to March 3, 2000.
Scope and Contents
The interview focused on Selz's career as an art historian, and on the subject of modernism, with particular attention to Selz's writings and the many exhibitions in which less familiar artists (German Expressionists, Klimt, Schiele, Californians, Leon Golub, other figurative painters) and even movements (Art Nouveau, Futurism, Exhibition Momentum, Funk) were introduced. Selz discussed teaching at Moholy-Nagy's New Bauhaus in Chicago; his divergent ideas from more typical mainstream thinking about modernism primarily in formalist terms; his views on and understanding of modern art through his teaching and as a museum curator (Museum of Modern Art, NYC) and director (University Art Museum, Berkeley).

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Peter Howard Selz (1919-2019 ) was a curator and art historian from Berkeley, California.

Administration

Sponsor
Funding for this interview was provided by the Richard Baker Fund. Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Existence and Location of Copies
Transcript available on line
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.

Digital Content


Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.

More Information

General

General
Originally recorded 1 sound cassette. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 1 min.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Art historians -- California -- Berkeley -- Interviews Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art, Modern -- 20th century Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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