Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Papers of William Seitz, Accession #12834,-a, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

The papers of William Chapin Seitz were originally bequeathed to the Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library and were transferred to Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library, on November 12, 2002.

Biographical/Historical Information

William Chapin Seitz (1914-1974) was the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of the History of Art at the University of Virginia from 1970-1974 and was an artist, art historian, author and educator.

According to Contemporary Authors Online (Gale, 2002), he attended Albright Art School (1932-1933), the Art Institute of Buffalo (1933-1935), the University of Buffalo (1948), and Princeton, where he received his Masters degree and Ph.D. in Fine Arts (1952, 1955). Seitz began his career on the Federal Art Project, New York City, 1935-1938 and with independent studio work and mural painting, 1938-1940. His work as an instructor and professor began at the Art Institute of Buffalo, New York (1941), and continued after the war at the University of Buffalo (now State University of New York at Buffalo), 1946-1949.

Other positions include Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, critic-in-residence, 1952-1953, assistant professor, 1955-1956, bi-centennial preceptor, 1957-1960; Museum of Modern Art, New York City, associate curator of painting and sculpture exhibitions, 1960-1964, curator, 1965; Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, professor of fine arts and director, Rose Art Museum and Poses Institute of Art, 1965-70; University of Virginia, Charlottesville, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of History of Art, 1970-1974. Visiting professor, Harvard University, 1969-1970; Kress Professor, National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC), 1971-1972.

Seitz wrote Abstract Expressionist Painting in America , Harvard University Press (1983); Art in the Age of Aquarius , 1955-1970, Smithsonian Institute Press (1992); The Responsive Eye (1965); Claude Monet: Seasons and Moments , Museum of Modern Art (1960); Monet: 25 Masterworks (1982), The Art of Assemblage , Museum of Modern Art (1961), among many other introductions, articles, and essays. Another biographical citation can be found in the Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement 9: 1971-1975 , Charles Scribner's Sons, 1994.

Scope and Content

The papers of University of Virginia history of art professor, William Chapin Seitz, consists chiefly of his research work on the Impressionist artist Claude Monet, ca. 3,170 items (5 Hollinger boxes, ca. 2 linear feet), 1924, 1952-1987, and undated. The collection includes many photographs, slides, and negatives of scenes visited and painted by Claude Monet, as well as other artists; articles by William Seitz and others concerning Paul Cezanne, Impressionism, modern and abstract art, and Claude Monet; a bibliography taken from John Rewald's book on Impressionism and a combined general bibliography and bibliography concerning Monet on index cards.

Other items include two lectures about Monet by William Seitz; other research and notes particularly about the "Nympheas " (Waterlilies) Cycle of Paintings by Claude Monet; and a few letters and postcards, 1967-1973, addressed to William Seitz discussing the work of Claude Monet from Henry Sorensen, Charles W. Millard, Leonard J.A. Parish, Judith C. Di Meo, some accompanied by photographs.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged chronologically within each folder and the folders are arranged alphabetically by type of material in five boxes.