David Hockney obituary

David Hockney, the celebrated British artist known for his vibrant paintings of Los Angeles swimming pools and his distinctive use of acrylic paint, has died at the age of 88. The obituary traces his career from his early days at the Royal College of Art, where he was influenced by RB Kitaj, to his move to California in the 1960s, where he created iconic works such as "A Bigger Splash" (1967) and "Peter Getting Out of Nick's Pool" (1966). It highlights his fascination with the artificiality of Los Angeles and his technical shift to acrylics, which allowed for brighter colors and a flat surface texture ideal for depicting chlorinated pools.

David Hockney, Revolutionary and Beloved Painter, Dies at 88

David Hockney, the revolutionary British painter known for his vivid swimming pool scenes, portraits, and relentless experimentation across media, died on Thursday in London at age 88. His publicist Erica Bolton confirmed the news. Hockney worked until the end, leaving behind a seven-decade career that spanned acrylics, watercolors, photo collages, iPad drawings, and immersive installations, with major retrospectives at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris (2024) and a current show at Serpentine North in London.

Duane Michals, Maker of Enigmatic Sequences of Images That Defied Photography’s Conventions, Dies at 94

Duane Michals, the influential American photographer known for his sequential, narrative-driven images that challenged traditional photography, died on June 9 at age 94 in a Manhattan hospital. His death was confirmed by DC Moore Gallery, which represented him since 2013. Michals pioneered the use of multi-image sequences—often five to nine photographs—to tell enigmatic, often surreal stories, with works like "Death Comes to the Old Lady" (1969) and "Things Are Queer" (1973) exploring themes of mortality, time, and perception. He frequently hand-wrote titles on his prints, a practice born from his lack of formal photography training.

Alan Saret, Post-Minimal Sculptor of Spiritual Forms, Dies at 81

Alan Saret, the spiritually ambitious Post-Minimalist sculptor known for his ethereal wire sculptures and 'Gang Drawings,' has died at age 81. Born on Christmas Day 1944 in New York City, Saret studied architecture at Cornell University under Paolo Soleri and later studied art at Hunter College under Robert Morris. He debuted at SoHo's Bykert Gallery in 1967, participated in landmark exhibitions including Morris's '9 in a Warehouse' and 'Live in Your Head: When Attitudes Become Form,' and won a Guggenheim fellowship in 1969. After a period of obscurity, a 2007 Drawing Center exhibition reintroduced his work to a new generation. His gallery, Karma, confirmed his death, noting his pursuit of 'ensoulment' through art informed by spirituality, mathematics, nature, and the built environment.

Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Painter Who Defied the Bounds of Abstraction, Dies at 84

Mary Lovelace O’Neal, the American painter known for her large-scale abstract works that defied easy categorization, died in Mérida, Mexico, on May 10 at age 84. Her death was confirmed by her galleries, Jenkins Johnson and Marianne Boesky, on May 13. Active in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, O’Neal developed a distinctive practice that blended Minimalism, Abstract Expressionism, and figurative elements, most notably through her Lampblack series and later the "Whales Fucking" series. Her work gained renewed attention in the 21st century, with exhibitions at Mnuchin Gallery and the Museum of the African Diaspora, and her painting *Blue Whale a.k.a. #12* (1983) was selected for the 2024 Whitney Biennial.

David Hockney, Master Painter of Modern Life, Dead at 88

British painter David Hockney, renowned for his vibrant depictions of 1960s and ’70s Los Angeles life, died in London on June 11 at age 88. His publicist Erica Bolton announced his death. Hockney rose to prominence in the 1960s by reviving figurative painting and the human form amid the era's abstraction, later embracing digital tools like the iPad and immersive art. His career included iconic works such as *A Bigger Splash* (1967) and *Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)* (1972), and he consistently depicted queer life, openly challenging censorship before homosexuality was decriminalized in England.

Duane Michals, Who Expanded Photography’s Boundaries With Élan, Dies at 94

Photographer Duane Michals, known for pushing fine-art photography's narrative potential by incorporating text and cinematic frame-by-frame sequences, died on Wednesday in Manhattan at age 94. Born in McKeesport, Pennsylvania in 1932, Michals began adding text to his images in 1974, challenging conventions like Henri Cartier-Bresson's "Decisive Moment." His career spanned commercial work for magazines like Esquire and Mademoiselle, album covers, and portraits of stars including Robin Williams and Tilda Swinton, alongside a parallel art practice that explored death, sexuality, dreams, and paternal love through sequenced photographs, paintings, and sculptures. His first solo show was at New York's Underground Gallery in 1963, and his breakthrough museum exhibition came at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1970.

Steven Adrian Stewart, Founder of Kansas Gallery, Dead at 46

Steven Adrian Stewart, founder of the Lower East Side's Kansas Gallery, has died at age 46. Stewart died on May 26 in Lawrence, Kansas, near where he grew up; no cause of death was provided. He founded Kansas Gallery in 2011, representing a roster of emerging artists including Michael Berryhill, Mira Dancy, Ethan Greenbaum, and Sylvan Lionni, before closing the space in 2016. After moving to Melbourne, Australia, he cofounded Futures Gallery in 2021 and later worked at Elizabeth Leach Gallery in Portland, Oregon. Stewart is survived by his wife, artist Jen Berean, and their two children.

Remembering Alan Saret, Julio Le Parc, and Hilde Lynn Helphenstein

Hyperallergic's weekly In Memoriam column honors several figures from the art world who recently died, including postminimalist sculptor Alan Saret (1944–2026), Franco-Argentine kinetic artist Julio Le Parc (1928–2026), art-world satirist Hilde Lynn Helphenstein (1985–2026), figurative painter Jay Milder (1934–2026), arts advocate Randall Bourscheidt (1944–2026), Vietnamese photographer Dang Van Phuoc (1935–2026), British actor and art dealer Robin Alastair Hurlstone (1958–2026), and Belgian multimedia artist Marie-Jo Lafontaine (1950–2026). Each obituary highlights their contributions, from Saret's wire sculptures and Le Parc's kinetic works to Helphenstein's satirical Instagram account and Bourscheidt's advocacy for artists with AIDS.

Alan Saret, ‘Anti-Form’ Artist Known for His Wire Sculptures, Dies at 81

Alan Saret, an artist known for his chaotic wire sculptures and colored-pencil drawings that helped define the 'anti-form' movement of the late 1960s and early '70s, died on Tuesday at age 81. His death was announced by Karma, the New York gallery that staged three exhibitions of his work since 2022. Saret's breakthrough came with a 1968 exhibition at Bykert Gallery, leading to inclusion in Harald Szeemann's landmark show 'When Attitudes Become Form' at Kunsthalle Bern in 1969. His wire sculptures, made from crushed and bent industrial materials, were collected by institutions including the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum. He also created 'Gang Drawings' by dragging multiple colored pencils across paper, surveyed by the Drawing Center in 2007.

The art world remembers Valie Export, Austrian pioneer of feminist performance art

VALIE EXPORT, the Austrian pioneer of feminist performance art, died on 14 May, three days before her 86th birthday. Her death was confirmed by her representative, Thaddaeus Ropac. Born Waltraud Lehner in Linz in 1940, she developed a radical artistic language centered on the female body, known for works such as *Tap and Touch Cinema* (1968–1971) and *Body Configurations* (1972–1976). Tributes have poured in from artists, writers, and institutions, including the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin and the Belvedere Museum in Vienna, where director Stella Rollig noted their ongoing collaboration on the exhibition *Feminist Futures Forever*.

Renowned feminist artist and film-maker Valie Export dies aged 85

Valie Export, the Austrian performance artist and film-maker known for her provocative feminist works that challenged the male gaze, has died at age 85. Her foundation announced she died in Vienna on Thursday, three days before her 86th birthday. Export gained notoriety in the late 1960s for low-budget performances such as "Tapp und Tastkino" (1968), where she invited shoppers to touch her bare breasts through a tiny curtain strapped to her chest. She also co-founded the Austrian Filmmakers Cooperative, participated in documenta (1977, 2007) and the Venice Biennale (1980), and was a professor of multimedia and performance at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne.

Valie Export, Groundbreaking Feminist Artist Who Questioned the Nature of Art, Dies at 85

Valie Export, the pioneering Austrian feminist artist known for challenging the conventions of art and cinema through body-centered, tactile works, died on May 14 at age 85, three days before her birthday. Her death was confirmed by Thaddaeus Ropac Gallery, which represents her. Over six decades, Export created influential works such as "TAP and TOUCH CINEMA" (1968) and "Action Pants: Genital Panic" (1968), using her own body to question gender norms and the nature of film. Born Waltraud Lehner in Linz, she reinvented herself as VALIE EXPORT in 1967, a name symbolizing her exportation of personal ideas. She was associated with the Viennese Actionists but developed her own expanded cinema practice, producing works like "Abstract Film No. 1" (1967–68) that redefined the medium.

Duane Michals, grand inventeur de récits et de mirages photographiques, est mort

Duane Michals, the American photographer known for his narrative sequences and hand-written texts, died on June 9 in New York at age 94. A self-taught artist, he rejected photojournalism's "decisive moment" and instead created photographic series that explored identity, desire, memory, time, death, and spirituality. His work is currently featured in the exhibition "Fragile Beauté. Photographies de la collection de Sir Elton John et David Furnish" at the Jeu de Paume in Paris.

Death of David Hockney: 12 works that tell the trajectory of a cult painter

Mort de David Hockney : 12 œuvres qui racontent la trajectoire d’un peintre culte

David Hockney died on June 11, 2026, at age 88. The article presents a slideshow of 12 iconic works spanning his career, from early portraits like *Portrait of My Father* (1955) to his famous California pool scenes such as *A Bigger Splash* (1967) and *Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)* (1972), as well as later iPad paintings and photocollages. The selection traces his evolution across mediums—oil, acrylic, photocollage, digital drawing—and themes including hedonism, English and Norman landscapes, and intimate personal reflections.

David Hockney est mort à l’âge de 88 ans. Retour sur une grande figure de l’histoire de l’art

David Hockney, the celebrated British painter known for his sun-drenched, experimental work, died on June 11, 2026, at his home in London at age 88. The article, published by Beaux Arts Magazine, offers a comprehensive retrospective of his life and career, highlighting his six-decade trajectory from California pool scenes to iPad drawings, his fascination with Old Masters and new technologies, and his recent years spent in Normandy. It includes biographical details, interviews, and coverage of major exhibitions, including a 2025 show at the Fondation Louis Vuitton and a retrospective at the Centre Pompidou.

Duane Michals, photographer known for sequenced works, 1932–2026

Duane Michals, the American photographer celebrated for his pioneering photo sequences and surreal, narrative-driven works, has died at age 94. His gallery, DC Moore Gallery, announced his passing. Born in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, Michals began his photography career after a trip to the USSR in 1958, and his first solo exhibition was held in 1963 at New York's Underground Gallery. He became known for series such as *Empty New York* (1964) and *The Spirit Leaves the Body* (1968), moving away from single-frame street photography to create sequenced, dreamlike narratives. His work was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in 1970, and he remained active into his 90s, later incorporating handwritten text and video collaborations with Josiah Cuneo. Recent retrospectives include shows at the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Morgan Library, and Fundación MAPFRE.

Julio Le Parc, artist committed to movement and light, 1028–2026

Julio Le Parc, the Argentine artist known for his pioneering work in kinetic and Op Art, has died at age 98. Le Parc moved to Paris in 1958, where he developed a systematic, machine-like approach to abstraction, creating grid-based paintings and later sculptures using Plexiglas. He introduced light into his work in 1968 and became known for installations involving distorted mirrors and labyrinths that disoriented viewers. A founding member of the activist Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel (GRAV), he was briefly expelled from France after the 1968 social unrest. He received the International Grand Prize for Painting at the 1966 Venice Biennale and had major retrospectives at the Serpentine Galleries (2025), Palais de Tokyo (2013), and Daros Foundation (2014).

VALIE EXPORT, pioneering artist who centred the female body, 1940–2026

VALIE EXPORT, the pioneering Austrian feminist artist known for her provocative performances centered on the female body, has died at age 85. Born in Linz in 1940, she adopted the name VALIE EXPORT in 1967 and quickly rose to prominence with iconic actions such as *TAP and TOUCH Cinema* (1968) and *Action Pants: Genital Panic* (1968), which challenged passive representations of women. Her work spanned photography, film, and expanded cinema, and she participated in major international exhibitions including documenta 6 and 12, and the Venice Biennale, where she and Maria Lassnig became the first women to represent Austria in 1980.

Alan Saret, Author of Transcendent Wire Sculptures, Dead at 81

Sculptor Alan Saret, known for his ethereal wire sculptures and "Gang Drawings," died on May 26 in Brooklyn at age 81. His death was announced by the gallery Karma, which represented him. Saret created cloudlike organic forms from brass, copper, and steel wire, responding to Minimalism with a nature-attuned spirit. He studied under Robert Morris at Hunter College, assisted architect Paolo Soleri, and was included in Harald Szeemann's landmark 1969 exhibition "When Attitudes Become Form" at Kunsthalle Bern. After a rocky career that included a three-year stay in India and a decade-long hiatus from showing work, Karma secured representation of the artist in 2022, finally bringing him the notice he deserved.

VALIE EXPORT, Icon of Feminist Art, Dead at 85

VALIE EXPORT, the radical Austrian performance artist, filmmaker, and sculptor widely regarded as the most significant feminist artist of the postwar era, died in Vienna on May 14, just three days before her 85th birthday. Her death was confirmed by Thaddaeus Ropac gallery, which represents her. Known for provocative works such as *Tapp und Tastkino* (1968), in which she invited passersby to touch her bare breasts through a miniature theater, EXPORT faced hate mail, death threats, and indecency charges but remained undeterred in her mission to challenge patriarchal norms through the female body and sexual agency.

The Most Expensive Works by David Hockney Sold at Auction

David Hockney, the celebrated British artist known for his vibrant Pop art and iconic swimming pool paintings, died on June 11 at age 88 at his home in London. The article lists his most expensive works sold at auction, including "Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)" which sold for $90.3 million at Christie's New York in 2018, "Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy" which sold for $44.4 million in November 2024, "Nichols Canyon" which sold for $41 million at Phillips New York in 2020, and "The Splash" which sold for £23.2 million at Sotheby's London in 2020.

Paula Kamps, Painter of Rare Sensitivity, Dies at 36

Hyperallergic's weekly "In Memoriam" column honors seven recently deceased figures from the art world, including German painter Paula Kamps (1990–2026), who died at 36. Kamps was known for her delicate watercolor-like paintings of fragmented figures, flowers, and daily life, and had solo exhibitions at Galerie Christine Mayer in Munich, M. LeBlanc in Chicago, and Sans titre in Paris. The column also pays tribute to Miami graffiti legend Eric Alan Hirt ("ESON"), master ceramicist Lucy Edwards, Greek museum founder Anna Kafetsi, abstract painter Tess Jaray, Sotheby's auctioneer John Marion, and counterculture artist Ben Morea.

Alan Saret, whose wire sculpture took from minimalism, 1944–2026,

Alan Saret, the American artist renowned for his pioneering wire sculptures that offered a fluid counterpoint to rigid minimalism, has died at age 82. Saret began working with chicken wire in the 1960s, twisting and interlacing it into cascading, flexible forms. His breakthrough came in 1966 after studying architecture at Cornell University and under Robert Morris at Hunter College. He debuted solo at Bykert Gallery in 1968 and was included in landmark group shows such as 'Nine in a Warehouse' at Leo Castelli Gallery and 'Live in Your Head: When Attitudes Become Form' at Kunsthalle Bern. A spiritual sojourn in India from 1971 to 1974 deepened his practice, leading to vast organic wire works.

The Art World Remembers David Hockney: ‘A True Lover of Life’

The art world mourns the loss of British painter David Hockney, who died peacefully at his home at age 88. A leader of the British Pop Art movement since the 1960s, Hockney was known for his vivid paintings, iPad drawings, and iconic personal style. Curators and artists who worked closely with him, including Chris Stephens, Stephanie Barron, Stuart Comer, Sam McKinnis, and Kojo Marfo, shared tributes highlighting his constant reinvention, joyful curiosity, and profound impact on contemporary art. At his death, Hockney held the auction record for the highest-valued living artist.

David Hockney, Painter Who Captured the Sensibility of ’60s Los Angeles, Is Dead at 88

David Hockney, the iconic British painter best known for his vibrant depictions of 1960s Los Angeles, has died at age 88. His publicist Erica Bolton confirmed he passed away peacefully at his home in London on Thursday, June 11, just one month before his 89th birthday. Over six decades, Hockney created a vast body of work spanning painting, drawing, and printmaking, capturing people and places from London to Normandy with a distinctive, unconcerned approach to contemporary trends. Tributes poured in from figures including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Tate Britain director Alex Farquharson, who praised Hockney's courage and joy in seeing the world anew. Tate Britain plans a major exhibition of his work next year, alongside a multimedia installation at Tate Modern.

David Hockney, an artist of brio and versatility, with global recognition beyond the art world, has died, aged 88

David Hockney, the celebrated British artist known for his vibrant paintings, prints, and set designs, has died at home at the age of 88. Born in Bradford in 1937, he rose to fame as a key figure in British Pop Art after studying at the Royal College of Art, and his career spanned over six decades, encompassing works that ranged from intimate portraits to large-scale landscapes, often incorporating innovative techniques like iPad drawing.

David Hockney – a life in pictures

David Hockney, the celebrated British artist known for iconic works such as *A Bigger Splash* and his vibrant landscapes, has died at the age of 88. The Guardian marks his passing with a photo essay tracing his life from his early days in Bradford to international fame, featuring images of his studio work, exhibitions at the Pompidou Centre and the Royal Academy, and his later years painting nature on vast canvases.

John Claridge obituary

John Claridge, a celebrated advertising photographer known for his iconic campaigns for Rolls-Royce, Porsche, and Jack Daniels, has died at age 81. His career spanned decades and earned multiple awards, but he is most revered for his black-and-white photographs of London's East End in the 1960s and 1970s, collected in the 2016 monograph "East End." Claridge's work is held in major institutions including the V&A, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Harald Metzkes, Postwar German Painter of ‘World Theater,’ Dies at 97

Harald Metzkes, the German painter known for his classically indebted and symbolically rich works created after World War II, died at age 97 in Brandenburg. His death was confirmed by his son, sculptor Robert Metzkes. Metzkes gained prominence in East Germany for rejecting socialist realism, instead developing a distinctive style that combined poetic imagery, references to classical modernism, and deeply symbolic visual worlds. The Neue Nationalgalerie is currently showing his painting "Removal of the Six-Armed Goddess" (1956) in an exhibition titled "Extreme Tension. Art between Politics and Society Collection of the Nationalgalerie 1945–2000."