Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig, 35, 40
Miller, Dorothy: exhibition series of, 79, 224n17; MoMA role of, 51, 56, 220–21n8; personal life of, 224–25n18; Selz’s departure and, 107; spirituality and, 174; Tinguely exhibition and, 78–79
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 198–99
Miró, Joan, 61, 185
MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles), 225n24
MOCRA (Museum of Contemporary Religious Art, St. Louis), 176
Modern, the. See Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York
modernism: American rejection of European, 61–62; complexity of, recognized, 35; motion, speed, and change as defining, 81, 88, 126–27; multiplicity, diversity, and inclusionism in, xi; open-endedness of, 63–64
“Modernism Comes to Chicago” (Selz), 33
modernist art: Art Nouveau’s influence on, 82–85; art of the past in relation to, 93–94; Bauhaus-inspired curriculum in Chicago and, 30–31; creating museums for, 49–51, 220nn5–6; first two dissertations on, 29–30; Fulbright research in context of, 31–32; human/formal division in, 94–95; inclusive, expansive, and flexible view of, 63–64, 74–75, 86, 91; key job in, 48–49; mid-century attitudes toward, 28–29; MoMA’s canon of, xi, 49, 56, 72, 73, 99, 228n3; MoMA’s curatorial freedom and, 55–57; Oliveira’s tradition-derived, 193–94; Selz and de Kooning’s parallels in, 69–71; Selz’s individual view of, 46–47; Selz’s voice for, 200–205; semantics of, 34; ultrareactionary attitudes toward, 39–40; Warhol and Kentridge in context of, 207–8, 209. See also specific types (e.g., Abstract Expressionism)
Moeller, Achim, 181
Moholy-Nagy, László, 30, 32, 127, 218n17, 235n24. See also Institute of Design (ID, Chicago)
MoMA. See Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York
Monday Evening Concerts (West Hollywood), 43
Mondrian, Piet, 177
Monet, Claude, 52
Moreau, Gustave, 57
Morehouse, Bill, 154
Moses, Ed, 42
Moses, Grandma, 16
Motherwell, Robert, 61, 168
Motley, Archibald, Jr., 218n17
Mullen, Frances, 43
Muller, Martin, 181
Munch, Edvard, 83, 194
Munich (Germany): army band and music in, 3; art museum visits in, 4–5, 205; birth and early childhood in, Fig. 4, 1–6, 197; Catholic schools’ expulsion of Jews, 2, 7; education and youth activities in, 6–10; Nazi parades and pageants in, 7–8, 9–10; remembered, 197; Selz’s departure from, 11; Selz’s later visit to, 68. See also Werkleute (Working People)
Musée National d’Art Moderne (Paris), 53
Musée Rodin (Paris), 91–92, 170
Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago), 198, 199
Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, MOCA), 225n24
Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (MOCRA, St. Louis), 176
Museum of Folk Art (N.Y.C.), ix–x, xi–xii
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York: anti-Semitism at, downplayed, 65–68, 106; canon of, xi, 49, 56, 72, 73, 99, 228n3; connections enabled by curating at, 64; Conner’s Box in, 236n32; creating identity of, 49–51, 220n6; decline of status, 98, 99–100, 105–6, 228n2, 250nn6–7; Fieldston School connections to, 19; film library of, 121, 234n11; fire at, 80; internal dynamics of, 52–54, 57–58, 107–8, 221n12; lack of friendliness among staff, 107–8, 231n28; market-driven influences on, 59–62; Pop Art symposium of, 101, 228n2; role in art world, 89, 97–98; Selz’s career at, summarized, 68–71; Selz’s departure from, 105, 106, 108–9, 117; Selz’s early involvement with, 22; Selz’s hiring and arrival at, 44, 46–47, 48–49, 51–52, 73, 221n11; Selz’s praise for colleagues at, 54–55; sexism at, 234n11; spirituality in art and, 173–74; trustees’ influences on, 53, 57, 58–59; Warhol painting purchased by, 209
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) exhibitions: collections department separated from, 51; criticism of, 99–100, 105; curatorial freedom in, 55–57, 58; first three proposed by Selz, 72–73; implications of getting, 89; loans for Stieglitz Circle exhibition, 46; national and international divisions of, 52–54; proposed de Kooning show later cancelled, 69, 70–71; Selz’s main responsibilities for, 51; Selz’s provocative approach in, 81–82, 105; spaces of, 55
—exhibitions: Bauhaus 1919–1933, 219n22; Claude Monet, 52; The Family of Man, 59; Farm Security Administration photographs, 59; Fuller’s geodesic dome at, 80; High and Low, 230–31n25; Jackson Pollock, 55; Jean Dubuffet retrospective, 90; Mark-Tobey, 99; New American Painting, 59–60; New Horizons in American Art, 79; The Responsive Eye, 99; Sixteen Americans, 79, 224n17; Symbolists, 57, 58; Twelve Americans, 79
—exhibitions by Selz: Alberto Giacometti, 72, 92, 95–96; Art Nouveau, 73, 82–85, 228n3; The Art of Assemblage (with Seitz), 73, 88–89, 236n32; Auguste Rodin, 91–92, 170, 226–27n47; Emil Nolde, Fig. 14, 66–67, 91; Fifteen Polish Painters, 61; Futurism, 87–88; Max Beckmann, 72, 92–95, 218n14; U.S. Representation, 53–54; Venice Biennales, 56, 60–61; Peter Voulkos, 62; The Work of Jean Dubuffet, 55, 72, 89–91. See also Jean Tinguely (exhibition); Mark Rothko (exhibition); New Images of Man (exhibition)
museums: anti-Semitism of, 66–68, 106; architects of (1960s and 1970s), 119, 233n5; exhibition committees of, 56; exposure to diverse arts at, 137–38; faculty attitudes toward, 151; first interfaith, 176; responsibilities of, 59–60. See also artist-critic-curator-dealer nexus
music: Los Angeles midcentury scene, 42–43; minimalist, 125, 126; preferences and openness to new, vii–viii
Mync, Bogdon, 179
Nathan Oliveira (Selz), 156, 194–95, 241n15
Nation, The (magazine), 223n5
Nauman, Bruce, 128
Naumann, Francis, 244n71
Nazism (National Socialist Party): anti-Semitic laws under, 2, 7, 9, 10; German American support for, 21, 216–17n28; Olympic Games and, 12; painters in Germany under, 32; postwar art exhibition on, 67–68; rise of, 2, 13; Selz’s later views on, 66–68; youthful encounters with, 7–8, 9–10; youth group of, 6
Neo-Dadism, 228–29n5
Neue Galerie, 182, 198
Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity), 182, 198–99
Neumann, J. B., 20, 28
New American Painting (exhibition), 59–60
New Americans (exhibition), 22
Newark Museum, 174
New Criterion (journal), 188
New Horizons in American Art (exhibition), 79
New Images of Man (exhibition): critical controversy and reviews of, 63, 75–78, 172, 222n32, 223n5, 223–24n6, 224n12, 248n29; current discussions about, 202; Francis’s work compared with, 191–92; New Realism compared with, 103–4; praise for, 190; preface to catalogue, 73–75, 181; reflections on, 72, 228n3; revisited in 2009–10, 201; Rothko’s work in context of, 86; significance of, 70, 158, 163, 170, 228n3; theologian’s interest in, 177
New Images of Man and Woman (exhibition), 181
Newman, Barnett, 162
New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit), 182, 198–99
New Paintings of Common Objects (exhibition), 229n5
New Realism: definitions of, 230n21; exhibitions of, 101, 103–4; Neo-Dadism and Pop Art linked to, 228–29n5. See also Pop Art
New Realism, The (exhibition), 103–4
New Realists (exhibition), 101
New York: arrival in, 12–13; Beckmann’s milieu in, 94–95; high school and university education in, 18–19, 21, 27; Nazis and Germany support in, 21, 216–17n28; Selz family and social life in, Fig. 13, 109–17; Werkleute network in, 14–15, 17; World’s Fair (1939)in, 22
New York art scene: adaptation to, 18, 20; anti-Semitism in, downplayed, 65–68, 106; artist-critic-curator-dealer nexus in, 101–3; awareness of, 34–35; California art scene compared, 123–24; changes in 1960s, 60–61, 105–6; Dubuffet’s work known in, 89; immersion in, 19–21, 111–16; later association with galleries in, 181, 182; “snobbism,” centrism, and parochialism of, 61–63, 75, 118, 222n28
New Yorker (magazine), 78, 224n13
&nb
sp; New York Review of Books, 101, 229–30n14
New York School of painting: contacts with, 35; Dubuffet and, 90; French attitude toward, 53; gestural painting as analogue to, 156, 240–41n14; narrative written for, 61–62; political ramifications of emerging, 60–61; “snobbism” and centrism surrounding, 61–62, 222n28; triumph at Venice Biennale, 60, 221–22n26. See also Abstract Expressionism; de Kooning, Willem; Kline, Franz; Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; Rothko, Mark
New York Times art reviews: Jean Tinguely exhibition, 80–81; Mark Rothko exhibition, 87; New Images of Man exhibition, 75–77, 223n5; Optical Art, 99; Martín Ramírez work, xi; The Work of Jean Dubuffet exhibition, 89–90
Niebuhr, Reinhold, 73, 223n3
Nierendorf, Karl, 20, 28
Nochlin, Linda, 159
Noguchi, Isamu, 56, 185
Noland, Kenneth, 177
Nolde, Emil, Fig. 14, 66–67, 91
Non-Plussed, The, 33
Norman, Dorothy, 20
Novak, Barbara, 121
Oakland Museum, 103–4, 121
O’Doherty, Brian, 121
O’Farrell, Ursula, 203
Office of Strategic Services (OSS), 23, 24–25, 217n37
O’Hagan, Margaret Peterson, 159
O’Keeffe, Georgia, 19, 21, 46
Oldenburg, Claes, 102
“old fogies”: use of term, 101, 229n12
Oliveira, Nathan: in BAM collection, 142; MoMA exhibition of, 63; Selz’s monograph on, 156, 194–95, 241n15; Selz’s view of, 191, 193–94; work in New Images of Man exhibition, 75, 78, 202, 248n49
Ollman, Leah, 207
Olsen, Donald, 180
Olympic Games (1936), 12
Operation Jedburgh, 217n37
Optical Art, 99
oral history, xii, 41, 106, 158, 200
Orozco, José Clemente, 44, 45
OSS (Office of Strategic Services), 23, 24–25, 217n37
Ossorio, Alfonso, 74
Otis Art Institute, 62
Pacific Film Archive (PFA): administration’s attitude toward, 121–22, 234–35n14; founding and location of, 121–22, 125; significance of, 122–23; student’s view of, 151
Palestine, 10. See also Zionism
Palo Alto: later association with galleries in, 181
Panicali, Carla, 120
Paolozzi, Eduardo, 78, 181
Paris (France): happiness of Peter and Thalia in, 111; loans for Auguste Rodin exhibition from, 91–92, 170; MoMA’s Rothko exhibition in, 53, 60, 221n13; MoMA’s U.S. Representation exhibition in, 53–54; Selz’s Fulbright research in, 31–32
Paris, Deborah. See Hertz, Deborah Paris (Debby)
Paris, Harold: circle of, 135–36, 187; on Funk, 129, 131, 132–33; illustration of, Fig. 18; work in Funk exhibition, 128, 130
Park, Roderic, 147, 234–35n14
Parkinson, Ariel, 162, 201–3, 208–9, 249n63
Parkinson, Tom, 249n63
Partisan Review, 101
Partridge, Loren, 239n78
Pasadena Art Museum, 91, 145, 229n5
Paschke, Ed, 33
Pascin, Jules, 123
Pennsylvania Academy, 182–83
performance art: feminist concerns in, 241–42n26; at unveiling of Crucifixion series, 160. See also Wisdom, Norton (“The Artist”)
Perkins, Steve, viii
Perl, Jed, 98, 105, 223n5, 228n3
Perls, Frank, 42
Pernas, Frances, 108, 231n33
Persian Gulf War (1990–91), 196–97
Peters, Richard, 147
Peter Selz Day, 201
Petlin, Irving, 33, 182–83
Phillips Collection, 220n5
Photo-Realism, 104, 139
Picasso, Pablo: Braque’s dispute with, 162; figurative work of, 208; works: Guernica, 73, 93, 183, 186
Piero della Francesca, 93, 120
Poland: abstract painting in, 61
political consciousness, 38. See also art and politics connections
Pollock, Jackson: MoMA’s exhibition of, 55; Ossorio influenced by, 74; Selz’s introduction to, 33; Tobey as influence on, 222n28; work in New Images of Man exhibition, 63, 222n32
Pomodoro, Arnoldo, Fig. 18
Pomona College: Expressionism (arts festival) and, Fig. 12; happiness of Peter and Thalia at, 111; importance to Selz’s thinking, 36–39; murals at, 44–45; reflections on, 39, 42, 119; Scripps College classes and, 40; Selz’s departure from, 46–47, 48
—exhibitions by Selz: contemporary artists (1947), 34, 218n17; Leon Golub, 41; Greene and Greene (architects), 41; Stieglitz Circle, 45–47
Pop Art: Abstract Expressionism compared with, 105–6, 230n21; Art Nouveau’s influence on, 82–85; in BAM collection, 139; careers in, 230–31n25; definitions of, 101–2, 228–29n5; emergence of, 99–100, 228n2; market for, 98, 101, 102–3; MoMA’s symposium on, 101, 228n2; Selz’s objection to, 101, 102–3, 105, 157; Selz’s revised opinion of, 206–7, 209; Warhol and Kentridge in context of, 208
Porter, Fairfield, 223n5, 230–31n25
Powerhouse Gallery: discontinued use of, 238n68; exhibitions by Selz at, 123, 126–28; space of, 119; student’s view of exhibitions at, 150. See also Funk (exhibition)
Price, Lorna (now Dittmer), 203–4
primitivism, 84, 90–91
punk movement, 213n2
Ramírez, Martín, xi
Ramos, Mel, 191
Ramparts (magazine), 67, 223n40
Rannells, Susan, 129, 134
Rapoport, Sonia, 131
Rathbone, Perry T., 92, 94–95
Rathenau, Walter, 215n27
Rauschenberg, Robert: assemblage work of, 89, 130; collaboration of, 88; collectors of, 98; Venice Biennale prize for, 60, 250n6; work in Miller’s exhibition series, 224n17; work in MoMA exhibition in Paris, 54
Raven, Arlene, 158
Rawson, David, 179
Read, Herbert, 140
Reagan, Ronald, 140, 141, 143
Realism: German (exhibition), 198–99; Selz’s view of, 103–4. See also New Realism
Redon, Odilon, 57, 193
Reich, Steve, 125
Reinhardt, Ad, 35, 162
Reis, Bernard, 165–68
Rembrandt van Rijn, 4, 5, 137, 194
Renaissance Society (University of Chicago), 34, 218n17
Renan, Sheldon, 121–22, 234n12, 239n78
Representations (journal), 152
Responsive Eye, The (exhibition), 99
Rewald, John, 57
Rewald, Sabine, 249n61
Rheingold brewery (Bushwick), 19, 20, 21–22
Richardson, Brenda: at BAM opening, 125; BAM position of, 145; Funk exhibition and, 129, 134; Selz’s departure and, 146–48, 239n74, 239n77
Rickey, George, 127
Riegl, Alois, 29
Rilke, Rainer Maria, 8, 20
Rinder, Lawrence, 139–40, 183, 237n43, 238n60
Ritchie, Andrew, 48, 55
Robert Colescott (exhibition), 182
Rockefeller, Abby Aldrich, 49–51
Rockefeller, Mrs. John D., 3rd, Fig. 14
Rockefeller, Nelson, 53, 58–59
Rodia, Simon (Sam), 155
Rodin, Auguste, 91–92, 170, 226–27n47
“Roll over Beethoven” (song), 106
Roosevelt, Franklin D., 59
Rosa (nanny), Fig. 5, 3–4
Rosenberg, Harold, 90–91
Rosenberg, Jakob, 214n10
Rosenblum, Robert, 155, 171, 240n11
Rosenfeld, Michael, 181
Rosenquist, James, 100
Rosenthal, Rachel, 158
Roth, Moira, 155, 157–58, 159
Rothko, Christopher, 120, 165, 167, 177
Rothko, Kate, 120, 165, 167
Rothko, Mark: California visit of, 121; changing attitudes toward, 105; circle of, 90; exhibition preparations of, 85–86; intentions regarding estate, 142, 165, 168, 169, 243n49; Italy trip with, Fig. 17, 120; nonobjective and figurative reconciled by, 105; philosophical paintings of, 1
62; proposed de Kooning show and, 70; red painting given to Selz, 120, 234n8; Selz’s view of, 130, 186; Symbolist context of work, 225–26n35; trial over estate of, 165–69. See also Mark Rothko (exhibition)
Rothko, Mary Alice Beistle (“Mell”), Fig. 17, 120, 165
Rothko Chapel (Houston), 112
Rousseau, Théodore, 137
Rubens, Peter Paul, 138–39, 140
Rubin, William, 172, 243n59
Running Fence project (Christo and Jeanne-Claude), 153–54, 185
Ruscha, Ed, 42, 229n5
Rutberg, Jack, Fig. 22, 181, 196–97
Ruvolo, Felix, 218n17
Saarinen, Aline B., 76–77
Sachs, Paul, 50
Sacramento: later association with galleries in, 181; Tribute to Peter Selz exhibition at gallery in, 235n21, 247n28
Sakata, Barry, 181. See also b. sakata garo (gallery)
Sam Francis (book, Selz), 164, 191–92
Sam Francis (exhibition), 181
Sandler, Irving, 221–22n26, 222n28
Sandvig, Elizabeth, 37–39, 152
San Francisco: Chicano art venue in, 247n27; later association with galleries in, 131, 181, 182; sculpture commission of, 184–85; Selz’s impact on art scene of, 186–87. See also Bay Area art scene
San Francisco Art Institute, 247n27
San Francisco Museum of Art (now San Francisco Museum of Modern Art [SFMOMA]): Abstract Expressionism exhibition, 240–41n14; Emil Nolde exhibition (from MoMA), 91; competition concerns of, 119; film archive rejected by, 121; symposium at, 189; visits with step-granddaughter to, 204, 205; William Kent-ridge exhibition, 207–8, 209
San Francisco School of Abstract Expressionism, The (Landauer), 156, 240–41n14
San Jose Museum of Art, 156, 241n15
Saturday Review (magazine), 76, 77
Savio, Mario, 119, 233n3. See also Free Speech Movement
Savoldo, Giovanni Girolamo, 139, 140
Scanlan’s Magazine, 67
Schad, Christian, 182, 199
Schapiro, Meyer, 52, 84–85, 169
Schapiro, Miriam, 158
Scheier, Ernest, 217n3
Schemmerling, Carole. See Selz, Carole Schemmerling (fifth wife)
Schemmerling, Kryssa (stepdaughter), 179
Schemmler, Oskar, 182
Scheyer, Galka, 145
Schiele, Egon, 16
Schjeldahl, Peter, 77–78, 224n13
Schlesinger, Norma. See Selz, Norma (second wife)
Schmidt-Rottluff, Karl, 32
Schneemann, Carolee, 157
Peter Selz Page 36
