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William Chapin Seitz (June 19, 1914 – October 26, 1974) was an American art historian, professor and curator.

Early life and education
Seitz was born in Buffalo, New York on June 19, 1914, where he grew up. He studied at the Albright Art School at the University of Buffalo and the Art Institute of Buffalo. The Great Depression made him pause his education. For three years in the mid-1930s, he worked for the Federal Art Project, in New York City. He married artist Irma J. Siegelman in 1938. During World War II, he was employed by the Hewitt Rubber Company in Buffalo, working as an aircraft fuel cell designer.

Later education and career
Following the war, Seitz continued his studies at the University of Buffalo. He completed his undergraduate degree in 1946, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts and taking up a teaching position at the university. Seitz began studying Art History at Princeton University in 1950 and received a master's degree there in 1952. He wanted to write a dissertation about the abstract expressionism movement, although the faculty was divided, only approving the topic after a year of discussions. He completed the dissertation in 1955, obtaining a doctoral degree and becoming the first to write one about abstract expressionism. With the support of the Fulbright Program, Seitz went to France in 1957, with the goal of extensively researching and documenting the life and work of painter Claude Monet.

Seitz left Princeton in 1960. That same year, he became Associate Curator of Painting and Sculpture Exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art. In 1965, he became a professor of fine arts and director of the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University. In 1970, Seitz was appointed as the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Art History at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. From 1971 to 1972, he was a research fellow at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Seitz died of cancer on October 26, 1974 at Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was 60 years old and was survived by his wife Irma.

Selected bibliography
Source:
 * Claude Monet: Seasons and Moments (1960)
 * The Art of Assemblage (1961)
 * Arshile Gorky: Paintings, Drawings, Studies (1962)
 * São Paulo 9, United States of America: Edward Hopper [and] Environment U.S.A: 1957–1967 (1967)
 * What is Impressionism? (1973)
 * Art in the Age of Aquarius: 1955–1970 (1992)