Whakaotihia te rerenga e whai ake nei: I whanau a Peter Selz ki Munich o nga matua Hurai. I te tau 1936, 17 ona tau, ka rere ia i Tiamana Nazi no te mea i hiahia ona matua ki te tuku ia ia ki te ako i te United States. I taea e tōna whānau te mawhiti i Tiamana i mua noa iho i te
Night of Broken Glass, me te awhina o etahi nuns, i atawhaihia e tana papa kanohi mo te kore utu. I noho ia mo te tau kotahi i te Whare Wananga o Columbia ka kitea he whanaunga tawhiti ia ki a Alfred Stieglitz, nana nei i whai tohutohu. Whai muri i tana mahi i te Pakanga Tuarua o te Ao ka whiwhi ia i te A.M. mai i te Whare Waananga o Chicago i runga i te GI Bill i te 1949. I whiwhi ia i etahi karahipi Fulbright i nga tau e whai ake nei ki te ako i te Whare Wananga o Paris me École du Louvre me nga Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire; i te wa ano, i ako a Selz i te Whare Wananga o Chicago, i te taha o te tari matauranga i te Institute of Design i te Illinois Institute of Technology i Chicago. I te tau 1955 ka neke ia ki Pomona College hei tumuaki mo te tari toi me te mahi hei kaiwhakahaere o te whare toi o te kura.