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.

Georg Baselitz, artist who turned painting upside down, 1938–2026

Georg Baselitz, the German painter, sculptor, and printmaker known for turning his canvases upside down, has died at age 88. Born Hans-Georg Kern in Saxony in 1938, he witnessed the bombing of Dresden as a child, an experience that shaped his artistic vision. Expelled from art school in East Berlin, he moved to West Berlin and adopted the name Baselitz. His first solo exhibition in 1963 was deemed obscene and confiscated. In 1969, he created his first upside-down painting, which became his signature. He rose to international prominence as a neo-expressionist in the late 1970s and 80s, represented Germany at the Venice Biennale in 1980, and continued working until his death. A recent series of his paintings will be shown at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice from May to September 2026.

Katherine El-Salahi, anti-apartheid activist, anthropologist and publisher, 1945–2026

Katherine El-Salahi, an anti-apartheid activist, anthropologist, and publisher, has died at age 81. Born Katherine Levine, she studied at Cambridge and SOAS before joining the clandestine group London Recruits in 1970, carrying out leaflet bomb propaganda and running guns into South Africa. She later became instrumental in the career of her husband, Sudanese painter Ibrahim El-Salahi, organizing his landmark 2013 retrospective at Tate Modern, building his archive, and securing gallery representation with Vigo Gallery.

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.

Georg Baselitz, Lion of German Neo-Expressionism, Dead at 88

Georg Baselitz, the influential German Neo-Expressionist painter, printmaker, and sculptor, died on April 30 at age 88. His death was announced by Thaddaeus Ropac gallery, his longtime representative. Born Hans-Georg Kern in 1938 in Saxony, Baselitz was profoundly shaped by his childhood experience of war and the destruction of Nazi Germany. He was expelled from art school in East Berlin for "socio-political immaturity," moved to West Berlin, and adopted his pseudonym from his hometown. His first solo exhibition in 1963 was raided by police for obscenity, cementing his reputation as a provocateur. Known for his upside-down figures and fierce brushwork, he created series such as "Heroes" and "Fracture" that addressed trauma, violence, and the psychic toll of postwar life.

Sculptor Thaddeus Mosley dies at 99.

Sculptor Thaddeus Mosley dies at 99.

Sculptor Thaddeus Mosley, a self-taught artist renowned for his monumental abstract wood sculptures, has died at the age of 99. Working for decades in his Pittsburgh basement, Mosley used locally sourced felled trees and traditional hand tools to create dynamic, asymmetrical forms that channeled both modernist principles and African artistic traditions. His prolific career, which began in his 30s, gained significant institutional recognition only in his later decades, culminating in a major 2022 solo exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Glen Baxter obituary

Cartoonist and surrealist Glen Baxter has died at the age of 82. He was celebrated for his distinctive style, which blended deadpan captions with pop art-inspired scenes featuring characters like cowboys and spacemen in bizarre situations. His work appeared in major publications like the New Yorker and the Observer, and he was also a staple of humorous greeting cards.

painter mary abbott has died

Abstract Expressionist painter Mary Abbott has died at age 98 due to heart failure, as confirmed by McCormick Gallery in Chicago, which represented her for nearly 20 years. Known for her colorful canvases and sweeping brushstrokes, Abbott was praised by the New York Times in 2008 as one of the last great Abstract Expressionist painters of her generation. Despite her early modeling career on Vogue covers and her immersion in the downtown New York art scene alongside figures like Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning, her work received little scholarly recognition until the 2016 Denver Art Museum exhibition "Women of Abstract Expressionism," which traveled to the Mint Museum and Palm Springs Art Museum.

pope francis legacy art venice biennale restitution

Pope Francis died on April 20 at age 88, ending a transformative papacy that began in 2013. He was the first Jesuit pope, first from the southern hemisphere, and took his name from St. Francis of Assisi. Known for austerity and advocacy for the oppressed, he criticized wars in Gaza and Ukraine, apologized to Indigenous communities in Canada, and made history in 2024 by attending the Venice Biennale—the first pope to do so—visiting the Holy See Pavilion at the Women's Prison on Giudecca.

Marica Vilcek, Art Historian Whose Foundation Upheld the Work of Immigrants, Dies at 89

Marica Vilcek, art historian and co-founder of the Vilcek Foundation, has died at 89 in New York. She and her husband Jan, both immigrants from Czechoslovakia, established the foundation in 2000 to provide grants and prizes, primarily to immigrant artists, curators, and scientists, celebrating their contributions to American society.

German artist Georg Baselitz dies aged 88

German artist Georg Baselitz has died at age 88, as confirmed by the Thaddaeus Ropac gallery. Known for his expressive paintings and sculptures, Baselitz rose to prominence in the 1960s after a scandal over sexually symbolic works led to a high-profile court case. He pioneered painting canvases upside down from 1969 onward, a technique he used to grapple with German history and collective guilt. His work spanned six decades and included notable sculptures, such as a wooden figure at the 1980 Venice Biennale that appeared to perform a Nazi salute, which he later clarified was inspired by an African artifact. Baselitz achieved international acclaim in the 1980s and became one of Germany's highest-priced living artists, alongside Gerhard Richter.

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.

Remembering Glen Baxter, Pat Steir, Melvin Edwards

The art world mourns the recent deaths of several significant figures. British absurdist cartoonist Glen Baxter, known for his work in The New Yorker and exhibitions at Flowers Gallery, has died. American sculptor Melvin Edwards, renowned for his welded steel Lynch Fragments addressing racist violence, and pioneering feminist painter Pat Steir, celebrated for her conceptual, process-based works, have also passed. The article additionally notes the deaths of Lebanese painter Ali Sbeity, killed in an airstrike; Mexican folk artist Josefina Aguilar; British heritage leader Neil Cossons; British painter Charles Debenham; and Cypriot painter Andreas Karayian.

Remembering Calvin Tomkins, Rhoda Roberts, and Agosto Machado

This week's obituary column honors several significant figures from the art world who recently passed away. The list includes celebrated New Yorker art writer Calvin Tomkins, Houston art patrons Brad and Leslie Bucher, British airbrush artist Philip Castle, master jeweler Thomas Gentille, art historian Charlotte Gere, Alabama sculptor Robert L. "Larry" Godwin, comic artist Sam Kieth, photographer Carol Kitman, and Russian-Italian artist Swietlan Nicholas Kraczyna.

remembering martin parr

British photographer Martin Parr, known for his highly saturated and often humorous snapshots of everyday life, died on December 6 at age 74 after a four-year battle with cancer. Parr's work, from his early black-and-white images of rural Yorkshire to his iconic color series like "The Last Resort" (1982–85) and "The Cost of Living" (1987-89), captured British eccentricities and social pretensions with a sharp, affectionate eye. He was a full member of Magnum Photos and his images, including those of mass tourism and consumerism, have been widely exhibited and collected.

mel leipzig painter dead

Mel Leipzig, a painter known for his intensely detailed, realistic portraits of everyday people and places, died on November 1 at age 90. Over a career spanning more than five decades, the Brooklyn-born artist taught at Mercer County Community College from 1968 to 2013, founded the Trenton Artist Workshop Association (TAWA) in 1979, and never painted from photographs, instead practicing what he called 'designing with reality.' His work is held by major institutions including the Whitney Museum, the National Academy Museum, and the New Jersey State Museum.

richard hambleton obituary

Richard Hambleton, the Canadian street artist known for his iconic "shadowman" silhouettes that appeared on New York City walls in the 1980s, died on Sunday at age 65, as confirmed by Woodward Gallery. Hambleton emerged alongside Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and Kenny Scharf in the downtown graffiti scene, but a long battle with heroin and crack addiction plagued his life. His career saw a resurgence following a documentary by Oscar-nominated director Oren Jacoby, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April, leading to renewed exhibitions including his participation in "Club 57: Film, Performance and Art in the East Village, 1978-1983" at the Museum of Modern Art.

Nicholas Pope, sculptor whose career came in two acts, 1949–2026

Nicholas Pope, a British sculptor known for his organic, post-minimalist works, has died at age 76. His career unfolded in two distinct acts: an early phase in the 1970s producing roughly-hewn wooden columns like *Oak Tree Column* (1973) and *Drooping Column* (1975), which earned him a spot in the British Pavilion at the 1980 Venice Biennale, followed by a decades-long hiatus after contracting viral encephalitis in Tanzania. He later returned to sculpture with brighter, brasher works in ceramic, glass, and felt, including *The Apostles Speaking in Tongues Lit By Their Own Lamps* (1993–96) and collaborations like *The Conundrum of the Chalices of the Seven Deadly Sins and Seven Virtues* (2015) with James Maskrey.

Teresinha Soares, Brazilian Artist Behind Erotic-Inflected Works That Slyly Defied Taboos, Dies at 99

Teresinha Soares, a pioneering Brazilian artist known for her bold, erotic-inflected paintings and installations that challenged societal taboos and gender conventions, died on March 31 in Belo Horizonte at age 99. Her career, though concentrated between 1965 and 1976, was defined by works featuring pared-down, full-figured female silhouettes in vibrant colors that directly addressed women's sexuality and oppression.

art calvin tompkins new yorker dies

Calvin Tomkins, the longtime New Yorker writer known for his intimate profiles of modern and contemporary artists, has died at age 100 in his home in Middletown, Rhode Island. Over more than six decades, Tomkins profiled giants of the art world including Marcel Duchamp, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, John Cage, Georgia O'Keeffe, Kerry James Marshall, and Rashid Johnson, beginning with a 1959 assignment on Duchamp that launched his career. He continued writing sweeping profiles as recently as 2024.

Painter Celeste Dupuy-Spencer dies at 46.

The American painter Celeste Dupuy-Spencer has passed away at the age of 46 at her home in Los Angeles. Her gallery, Jeffrey Deitch, confirmed the news of her death but did not specify a cause. The announcement comes just weeks before a scheduled solo exhibition of her recent work, which is still set to open at the gallery’s Los Angeles location on April 17.

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."

Christine Ruiz-Picasso, Founder of Museo Picasso Málaga and Artist’s Daughter-in-Law, Dies at 97

Christine Ruiz-Picasso, the daughter-in-law of Pablo Picasso and a pivotal figure in preserving his artistic legacy, has passed away at the age of 97 in Provence, France. Married to Picasso’s eldest son, Paul, she became a primary advocate for the artist's work following her husband's death in 1975. Her most significant achievement was the 2003 founding of the Museo Picasso Málaga, realized through her donation of over 200 artworks and her persistent collaboration with the Andalusian government.

iris cantor collector philanthropist dead met museum

Iris Cantor, the prolific art collector and philanthropist whose patronage transformed major American institutions, has died at the age of 95 in Palm Beach, Florida. Alongside her late husband, B. Gerald Cantor, she amassed one of the world's most significant private collections of Auguste Rodin sculptures, eventually donating hundreds of works to museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum. Her death marks the end of an era for a donor whose name is synonymous with some of the most prominent gallery spaces and wings in the United States.

yoshiko mori former chair mori art museum died 85

Yoshiko Mori, the founding chairperson of Tokyo's Mori Art Museum, died on December 23 from pneumonia at age 85. Alongside her husband, real estate developer Minoru Mori, she opened the museum in 2003, which has since become one of Japan's premier contemporary art institutions. Mori served as chairperson from 2003 to 2024, then as chairperson emerita until her death. She also founded the Mori Contemporary Art Foundation in 2025 and held numerous international board positions, including trustee at the Royal Academy of Arts and member of the International Council at MoMA and Tate.

guy cogeval obituary former director musee dorsay paris

Guy Cogeval, the former director of Paris's Musée d'Orsay, died on November 13 at age 70 after a long illness. A specialist in 19th-century art and the Nabis, Cogeval led the Musée d'Orsay from 2008 to 2017, overseeing a major renovation of 80 percent of its galleries and merging it with the Musée de l'Orangerie. He previously directed the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the National Museum of French Monuments, and curated acclaimed exhibitions including "Hitchcock and Art" and "Édouard Vuillard, Master of Post-Impressionism."

frank gehry architect obituary

Frank Gehry, the renowned American architect, has died at age 96 in his Santa Monica home after a brief respiratory illness. He is survived by his wife, three children, and a vast portfolio of iconic buildings including the Guggenheim Bilbao in Spain, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, and the 8 Spruce skyscraper in New York. The article traces his life from his birth in Toronto in 1929, his education at USC and Harvard, his early career at Gruen Associates, and his rise to fame through innovative, sculptural designs that transformed modern architecture.