 | Peter Selz: Sketches of a Life in Art Subjects: Selz Peter Howard 1919–; Art historians -- United States -- Biography; Art critics -- United States -- Biography; Art museum curators -- United States -- Biography; "Throughout his career, when it comes to matters of art, Selz has been guided by intuition, instinct, and emotion. He feels his decisions about art and is guided by those feelings at least as much as by the mind." Karlstrom (Turning the Tide: Early Los Angeles Modernists, 1920-1956) is the first to document art historian Peter Selz's long career, which includes the authorship of multiple books-such as Art of Engagement: Visual Politics in California and Beyond and German Expressionist Painting-as well as museum direction at MoMA and UC-Berkeley, teaching, and, even in retirement, serving on boards for galleries and curating exhibitions. A Jewish immigrant to the U.S. from pre-WWII Germany, Selz has an interesting personal and professional life-his love of change resulted in "a pattern: discarding the present wife-or job-and expectantly moving on to the next thing, often...with inadequate thought for ramifications and consequences." Karlstrom interviewed a large cast for this biography, including-in addition to Selz-ex-wives, former coworkers and students, and artists whom Selz influenced and inspired, and concludes that his legacy comes from his "fundamental and frequently contrary vision of how art best functions as a worthy metaphor for" what Selz deemed "significant human experience." Certain to be of interest to historians and students of art, Karlstrom's biography is a detailed, well-documented window into a remarkable man and his distinguished, varied career. 27 B&W Photos. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. Karlstrom Paul J. : Paul J. Karlstrom , former West Coast Regional Director of the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art, is the editor of On the Edge of America: California Modernist Art, 1900-1950 (UC Press) and a co-editor of Asian American Art: A History, 1860-1970 . He is coauthor of Turning the Tide: Early Los Angeles Modernists , 1920-1956 and author of Raimonds Staprans: Art of Tranquility and Turbulence . |
