From the Archive: Peter Selz writes on McNeil (2002)

On the occasion of the 2002 George McNeil retrospective at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, the following essay by Peter Selz was published.

McNeil’s paintings seems to deal with the absurdity of the human condition, but since thse paintings are based on McNeil’s humanist background and sense of continuity of the artistic traditioin, they maintain a unique sense of pictorial authenticity. His feeling for the free play of sensate energies enable him to transform his delight in the vision of urban life into coherent pictures […] —Peter Selz

Peter Selz (1919-2019) was a German-born American art hsitorican and museum director. At the time of this essay, he held the post of Emeritus Professor of Art History at the University of California, Berkeley and was founding director of the Berkeley Art Museum, University of California.