Browse the chronological list of events at the Saint Louis University Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (MOCRA), or search for a specific event. Click “View” for more information about an event. If you need further information about an event, please contact us.
Peter Selz: “Degenerate Art”
May 4, 1995
In this lecture, renowned art historian, author and curator Peter Selz examines the 1937 Nazi-organized Entartete Kunst (“Degenerate Art”) exhibition, the most virulent campaign ever organized against modern art, and considers its legacy and contemporary echoes. He will discuss the 1991 recreation of that exhibition by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Additionally, Selz will explore contemporary issues of censorship and political intervention in the art world.
, Professor Emeritus of the History of Art at the University of California, Berkeley, and West Coast editor of Art in America, has written and organized exhibitions on virtually the entire spectrum of the arts of this century. From 1958 to 1965 he was Curator of the Department of Painting and Sculpture Exhibitions at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. He was the founding Director of the University Art Museum in Berkeley from 1965 to 1973 and was Project Director for Christo’s Running Fence from 1974 to 1976. Author of studies on German Expressionist painting, political cartoons, Art Nouveau, American painting between the World Wars, Funk, and kinetic sculpture, he has also written monographs on Ferdinand Hodler, Emil Nolde, Max Beckmann, Alberto Giacometti, Mark Rothko, Jean Dubuffet, and Sam Francis. He has contributed to numerous American and European journals and magazines and was co-editor (with Herschel B. Chipp and Joshua Taylor) of Theories of Modern Art.
This lecture is co-sponsored by Peter Wallach Gallery.
above:
Peter Selz
Related programming
Breaking Boundaries: A Conversation about the Art of Patrick Graham
Watch Peter Selz in on the MOCRA Voices Vimeo channel
Hear about Peter Selz’ influential role in the development of MOCRA on Episode 14: MOCRA Memories - Berkeley
| Exhibition | |
|---|---|
| 2018-10-07 to 2018-10-14 | 
Walking in Hope: A Weeklong Celebration of the Canonization of Archbishop Oscar Romero |
| 2017-04-20 | 
“The Hand Acts Out a Joyous Dance”: Celebrating the Art of Bernard Maisner |
| 2016-09-25 | 
Erika Diettes: “Stories Told from the Threshold” |
| 2015-12-06 | 
So That You Know Each Other: Intercultural Reflections on Art, Beauty, and Islam |
| 2014-11-15 | 
John Handley: “The Religious Art of Pablo Picasso” |
| 2018-09-28 to 2018-09-29 | 
Fleur-de-Lis Floral Art Walk |
| 2014-02-23 | 
“The Economy of Gift” in Socially Engaged Art Practices: A Public Deliberation |
| 2013-10-02 | 
Art21: The Spiritual Light screening at CAM |
| 2013-03-02 | 
Rituals and Spirituality in the Performative Photographic Work of Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons |
| 2012-11-11 | 
Breaking Boundaries: A Conversation about the Art of Patrick Graham |
| 2012-05-20 | 
Stephen P. Durchslag: “The Jewish Experience and the Haggadah” |
| 2012-03-27 |
2012 Loyola Chair Lecture: “The Image of the Wounded Body of Christ and the Modern Social Consciousness” |
| 2011-10-06 |
2011 Loyola Chair Lecture: “The Pursuit of the Spirit: The Renewed Interest in the Spiritual and Religious Dimensions in Contemporary Art” |
| 2011-05-01 | 
Terrence Dempsey, S.J.: “Georges Rouault and the Art of Sacred Engagement” |
| 2010-11-15 |
Terrence Demspey, S.J.: “Creating a Religious Environment through Contemporary Art and Architecture” |
| 2010-03-28 |
Terrence Dempsey, S.J.: “The Wounded Body of Christ and the Modern Social Conscience” |
| 2009-12-01 | 
Day With(out) Art |
| 2009-11-15 | 
Michael Byron: “Cosmic Tears: Word and Image” |
| 2009-03-29 | 
Art and the Religious Imagination |
| 2008-04-15 | 
Wu Hung: “What Is Contemporary Chinese Art?” |
| 2007-10-07 | 
Celluloid Bible Classics: The Ten Commandments |
| 2007-11-04 | 
Celluloid Bible Classics: Ben-Hur |
| 2007-09-16 | 
Michael Morris, O.P.: “Moving Pictures: The Bible and Beyond” |
| 2007-03-30 | 
Peter Frank: “An Oskar Fischinger Tribute” |
| 2006-12-01 | 
Day With(out) Art |
| 2005-12-04 | 
Robert Rosenblum: “DoDo Jin Ming: An Art Historian's View” |
| 2003-09-07 | 
To Make Extraordinary: The Role of Sacred Objects in Life and Worship |
| 2002-05-04 | 
The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment: A University Response |
| 2002-04-30 | 
Fred D. Gray: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment: A Study That Should Never Have Occurred |
| 2002-01-31 | 
Cloudlanders |
| 2002-01-26 | 
Thomas Sokolowski: “The Last Temptation: Andy Warhols Art as Belief” |
| 2000-11-30 | 
Day With(out) Art |
| 2001-04-06 | 
Bare Naked Statues in concert |
| 1999-04-15 | 
Two Lectures: Ellen Dissanayake and Jack Renard |
| 1999-03-27 | 
Bernard Maisner: “The Art of the Illuminator” |
| 1998-03-22 | 
Renaissance and Modern |
| 1997-11-15 | 
The Role of the Computer in Contemporary Art |
| 1997-07-24 | 
Jennifer Biddle: Body, Country, Canvas: Meaning and Identity in Central Desert Aboriginal Women’s Art |
| 1997-06-07 |
Creativity as Ancestral Mind: Living with the Ancestors |
| 1997-02-27 | 
The Artist and the Theologian Dialogue: The Body of Christ as Veiling and Unveiling the Invisible God |
| 1996-12-01 | 
Day Without Art |
| 1996-05-19 | 
The Artist as Poet: Readings by Edward Boccia |
| 1995-05-20 | 
Ian Friend: “The Edge of Belief” |
| 1995-05-04 |
Peter Selz: “Degenerate Art” |
| 1995-02-05 | 
Lynn Hague in recital |
| 1994-11-13 |
Terrence Dempsey, S.J.: “The Spiritual in Art in the Time of AIDS” |
| 1994-12-01 |
Day Without Art |
| 1994-11-05 |
Thomas Sokolowski: “The Changing Face of AIDS” |
| 1994-11-01 |
The Amici String Quartet in recital |
| 1994-10-15 | 
Consecrations: The Spiritual in Art in the TIme of AIDS dance program and opening reception |
| 1993-10-29 | 
I Remember Alvin |
| 1993-11-05 | 
An Evening with Katherine Dunham |
| 1992-11-07 | 
The Artist and Sacred Space |