Peter Selz, centenarian, influential art historian, prolific author, internationally celebrated curator, and the founding director of the University Art Museum at UC Berkeley (now Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive) peacefully passed away last week at home.

“Peter Selz was a remarkable individual whose contributions to BAMPFA, UC Berkeley, and the broader art world are too numerous to count. Over the course of his tenure as our founding director, Peter transformed BAMPFA from a modest university art collection into the internationally renowned art and film institution it is today. Generations of Bay Area art lovers have benefited from his insight, knowledge, independence, and boundless energy, and his legacy will reverberate across and beyond our museum for decades to come.”

—Lawrence Rinder, BAMPFA’s director and chief curator

Obituaries and announcements have appeared in the SF Chronicle, ARTNEWS, UC Berkeley, Berkeleyside, BAMPFA, and beyond.

We are honored to have published many of Peter’s books over recent decades.