Peter Selz: Sketches of a Life in Art (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780520269354)

This absorbing biography, often conveyed through Peter Selz's own words, traces the journey of a Jewish-German immigrant from Hitler's Munich to the United States and on to an important career as a pioneer historian of modern art. Paul J. Karlstrom illuminates key historical and cultural events of the twentieth-century as he describes Selz's extraordinary career--from Chicago's Institute of Design (New Bauhaus), to New York's Museum of Modern Art during the transformative 1960s, and as founding director of the University Art Museum at UC Berkeley. Karlstrom sheds light on the controversial viewpoints that at times isolated Selz from his colleagues but nonetheless affirmed his conviction that significant art was always an expression of deep human experience. The book also links Selz's long life story--featuring close relationships with such major art figures as Mark Rothko, Dore Ashton, Willem de Kooning, Sam Francis, and Christo--with his personal commitment to political engagement.

Author: Paul J. Karlstrom
ISBN-10: 0520269357
ISBN-13: 9780520269354
Publisher: University of California Press
Language: English
Published: 01/02/2012
Pages: 321
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.25lbs
Size: 9.41h x 6.52w x 0.99d

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 01/01/2012 pg. 101
Chronicle of Higher Education 02/03/2012 pg. 17
Publishers Weekly 02/20/2012