William C. Seitz papers
name: label: Creator
content: Seitz, William C. (William Chapin)
label: Names
content: University of Virginia -- Faculty
label: Names
content: Ashton, Dore
label: Names
content: Banks-Woodson, Ellen
label: Names
content: Barr, Alfred Hamilton, 1902-
label: Names
content: Baziotes, William, 1912-1963
label: Names
content: Conner, Bruce, 1933-2008
label: Names
content: D'Harnoncourt, Rene, 1901-1968
label: Names
content: Duchamp, Marcel, 1887-1968
label: Names
content: Elliott, Philip Clarkson, 1903-1985
label: Names
content: Gorky, Arshile, 1904-1948
label: Names
content: Gottlieb, Adolph, 1903-1974
label: Names
content: Krebs, Rockne, 1938-2011
label: Names
content: Monet, Claude, 1840-1926
label: Names
content: Rosati, James, 1912-1988
label: Names
content: Segal, George, 1924-2000
label: Names
content: Seitz, Irma
label: Names
content: Stella, Frank
topic: label: Occupation
content: Art historians -- Virginia -- Charlottesville
label: Topic
content: Painters -- Virginia -- Charlottesville
label: Topic
content: Educators -- Virginia
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The William C. Seitz papers were donated to the Archives of American Art by Seitz's widow, Irma Seitz, in 1975 and 2003. A transcript of an interview with Mark Tobey by Seitz was donated by Rebecca Massie Lane in 1988. Seitz gave these transcripts to Lane for her graduate work and they remined in her possession after his death.
creator: label: Creator
content: Seitz, William C. (William Chapin)
setName: label: See more items in
content: William C. Seitz papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of educator, painter, and art historian William C. Seitz measure 32.5 linear feet and date from circa 1930-1995. The collection includes biographical information, correspondence, notebooks, subject and people files, thesis research files, interviews and lecture recordings, teaching files, personal business records, scattered printed materials, photographs, and artwork. The bulk of the papers focus on Seitz's research and teaching career.
bioghist: label: Biographical/Historical note
content: William C. Seitz (1914-1974) was an art historian and scholar, painter, educator, and museum curator who worked primarily in New York and Virginia. He completed the first dissertation on Abstract Expressionism while a student at Princeton University in 1955.

Born in 1914 in Buffalo, New York, Seitz studied at the Albright Art School at the University of Buffalo and the Art Institute of Buffalo. Seitz met artist Irma J. Siegelman, whom he married in 1938. Due to the Depression, he left school and worked with the Federal Arts Project in New York City in the 1930s and worked as an aircraft fuel cell deigner for the Hewitt Rubber Company during World War II. Returning to the University of Buffalo after the war, Seitz completed his undergraduate degree and remained by accepting a teaching job.

Although he saw success as a painter and exhibited in one-man shows, Seitz focused his career in academia and enrolled at Princeton University for a graduate degree in Art History. Princeton faculty held divided views on Seitz's desire to write a dissertation on the Abstract Expressionist movement and debated the subject for over a year. Seitz's dissertation topic was eventually approved and in addition to writing the first dissertation on Abstract Expressionism, Seitz received the first PhD in Modern Art from Princeton. Seitz remained at Princeton as an assistant professor and advised students such as Frank Stella.

In 1960, he accepted a job as a curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. At MOMA, Seitz curated The Art of Assemblage (1961), The Responsive Eye (1965), and an exhibition on Monet (1960). Other MOMA exhibitions focused on artists Mark Tobey, Arshile Gorky, and Hans Hofmann. Additionally, he served as director of the Rose Art Museum of Brandeis University from 1965-1970. During that time, Seitz organized the United States exhibition at the Ninth Biennial in Sao Paulo (1967) and the Seventh Biennial of Canadian Painting (1968). In 1971, Seitz returned to teaching at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia and was the Visiting Kress Professor at the National Gallery of Art from 1972-1973.

In addition to his successes in painting, education, and the curatorial field, Seitz was an accomplished writer. He published many articles, essays, and books on art and artists including Art in the Age of Aquarius, on which he worked until his death.

William C. Seitz died of cancer in 1974.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 32.5 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1930-1995
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.seitwill
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Resumes
label: Type
content: Poems
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Awards
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sketches
label: Type
content: Notebooks
label: Type
content: Drafts (documents)
label: Type
content: Lectures
arrangement: label: Arrangement note
content: The collection is arranged as 8 series:

Series 1: Biographical Information, 1930s-1974 (Box 1; 7 folders)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1945-1995 (Boxes 1-2; 1.6 linear feet)

Series 3: Personal Business Records, circa 1947-1990 (Boxes 2-3; 0.4 linear feet)

Series 4: Research and Writing Files, 1940s-1970s (Boxes 4-26; 23.5 linear feet)

Series 5: Teaching Files, 1945-1970s (Boxes 27-31, OV 34-35; 5 linear feet)

Series 6: Printed Material, 1937-1984 (Boxes 31-2; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 7: Photographs, 1940s-1981 (Box 32, 33; 11 folders)

Series 8: Artwork, circa 1950s-1972 (Box 32, 33; 6 folders)
processinfo: label: Processing Information note
content: The collection was processed by Jayna Hanson in 2011 with funding provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Resumes
label: Genre/Form
content: Poems
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Awards
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sketches
label: Genre/Form
content: Notebooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Drafts (documents)
label: Genre/Form
content: Lectures
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: The papers of educator, painter, and art historian William C. Seitz measure 32.5 linear feet and date from circa 1930-1995. The collection includes biographical information, correspondence, notebooks, subject and people files, thesis research files, interviews and lecture recordings, teaching files, personal business records, scattered printed materials, photographs, and artwork. The bulk of the papers focus on Seitz's research and teaching career.

Biographical materials consist of resumes and CV's, identification cards including one from the WPA, documents from the memorial held at the University of Virginia for Seitz, poetry written by Irma for William on their wedding anniversaries, and x-rays.

The majority of Seitz's correspondence is professional and concerns job offers and opportunities, lectures requests, recommendation letters for Seitz and for others by Seitz, the Kress Fellowship, exhibitions, awards, and organizations. Also found are posthumus materials to Irma Seitz concerning book royalites. Personal correspondence is scattered and includes condolence letters sent to Irma.

Personal business records focus on Seitz's personal art collection, copyright information, publishing records including royalty statements, reports, scholarship and fellowship information, and professional organization membership records.

The bulk of the collection consists of research and writing files which include notebooks, subject and people files, thesis research files and drafts, general research which include writings by Seitz, card files, and recordings of lectures and interviews. Subject and people files may include correspondence, printed materials, research notes, photographs, works of art, and writings concerning and by artists, art historians, curators, subjects, and art movements. Research files are found for Dore Ashton, Alfred H. Barr Jr., William Baziotes, Bruce Conner, Rene D'Harnoncourt, Marcel Duchamp, Arshile Gorky, Adolph Gottlieb, Rockne Krebs, George Segal, James Rosati, and Frank Stella among many others. Also found are research materials on Claude Monet, some of which are written in French.

Teaching files contains extensive reference material likely used by Seitz during his career as well as correspondence, exams, and lecture materials used in specific classes.

Printed material is scattered and includes clippings, exhibition announcements, and articles. Exhibition announcements and catalogs are for Seitz's personal works and for exhibitions he curated.

The bulk of the photographs are of works of art by William Seitz, Irma Seitz, and others which were likely owned by Seitz. Also found are photographs of exhibition installations at the Univeristy of Virginia and scattered photographs of Seitz with others.

Artwork include several pencil sketches by Seitz, two works by Ellen Banks-Woodson, and a sketch by Phil Elliott.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Archival Materials note
content: The Museum of Modern Art Archives in New York City holds the William C. Seitz papers which contain exhibition files and records relating to an interview with Marcel Duchamp. Correspondence relating to the debate concerning the viability of Seitz's dissertation are found in the Alfred H. Barr, Jr. papers also at the Museum of Modern Art Archives.