Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - An haifi Peter Selz a Munich na iyayen Yahudawa. A shekara ta 1936, yana ɗan shekara 17, ya gudu daga Nazi Jamus domin iyayensa suna son su aika da shi zuwa karatu a Amirka. Iyalinsa sun yi nasarar tserewa daga Jamus kafin daren gilashin gilashi.
, tare da taimakon wasu nuns, wanda mahaifinsa na likitan ido ya kula da shi kyauta. Ya yi shekara guda a Jami'ar Columbia kuma ya gano cewa yana da alaƙa da Alfred Stieglitz, wanda ya zama malamin sa. Bayan ya yi aiki a yakin duniya na biyu ya karbi A.M. daga Jami'ar Chicago a kan GI Bill a 1949. Ya sami tallafin karatu na Fulbright da yawa a cikin shekaru masu zuwa don yin karatu a Jami'ar Paris da École du Louvre da kuma Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire; a lokaci guda, Selz yana koyarwa a Jami'ar Chicago kuma ya kuma shugabanci sashen ilimi a Cibiyar Zane a Cibiyar Fasaha ta Illinois a Chicago. A shekara ta 1955 ya koma Kwalejin Pomona don shugabancin sashen zane-zane kuma ya zama darektan gidan zane-zane na makarantar.