Unstill Life: A Daughter's Memoir of Art and Love in the Age of Abstraction
Unstill Life: A Daughter's Memoir of Art and Love in the Age of Abstraction
by Gabrielle Selz
Discussion Questions
1. How did the respective heritages of Peter and Thalia Selz contribute to their interests and careers?
2. Discuss the gender dynamics in Unstill Life. How are the roles that men and women play in the book similar or dissimilar to their roles in today's society?
3. How did Peter Selz's affairs affect his position in the art world/society? Would they be seen differently today?
4. "Painting was no longer about an image, even an abstract image, but a record of an actual event." To which artist/school does this quote refer? What was Peter Selz's opinion about this type of artwork?
5. "Up until that time art history had been primarily concerned with stylistic method and provenance, but my father chose to investigate the theories, philosophies and ideas in vogue at the time the works were created. He wanted to know what the artists read, whom they socialized with and, most importantly, their own writing about their work." How was this curiosity reflected in Peter Selz's career?
6. "People on drugs were obsessed in the same way artists were obsessed. They both sacrificed time, friendships, family, money, life into the black hole of an obsession. I'd seen this at Westbeth, how artists could disappear into another world that wasn't quite reality, and lose all touch. The same thing happened with drugs. It's just that drug users never brought anything back from that other realm, and artists, if they were lucky, did." Do you agree with this comparison between a drug addiction and the artists' lifestyle? Why or why not?
7. "My father believed that a work of art, whether figurative, abstract or environmental, should transcend private feeling and express something of value to mankind." Explain how this ideal is embodied by one of the artists championed by Selz.
8. Discuss the various neighborhoods/cities inhabited throughout the book. How did the locations relate to the artwork of the time? The state of the family?