Vasari Art Codex

candle obituary schedule Oct 8, 2025 visibility 6 link 9 artists, 1 gallery

ken jacobs film artist dead 1234755856

Ken Jacobs, a pioneering experimental filmmaker who blurred the boundaries between cinema and visual art, died at 92 in New York from kidney failure, according to his son, filmmaker Azazel Jacobs. A key figure in the postwar New York underground alongside Jack Smith and Jonas Mekas, Jacobs challenged conventional filmmaking through works like "Blonde Cobra" (1963) and "Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son" (1969), using techniques such as live radio accompaniment, slow motion, and looping to deconstruct the medium. He studied painting under Abstract Expressionist Hans Hofmann and described his own work as "Abstract Expressionist cinema," often drawing direct comparisons between film and painting.

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candle obituary schedule Dec 9, 2025 visibility 5 link 16 artists, 1 gallery

Comment | Why Frank Gehry was the ultimate artist’s architect

Frank Gehry (1929-2025) is remembered as the ultimate artist's architect, a figure whose career was deeply intertwined with the visual arts. The article highlights his lifelong friendships with numerous Los Angeles artists, his design of exhibitions for them, and his creation of iconic art museums like the Museo Guggenheim Bilbao (1997) and the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris (2014). Gehry believed his buildings offered artists a strong alternative to the white cube, and he renovated museums such as the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA and the Philadelphia Museum of Art with a remarkably light touch. His early exposure to art through a ceramics course with Glen Lukens at USC helped steer him toward architecture.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

candle obituary schedule Feb 27, 2026 visibility 4 link 7 artists

jean widmer dead designer centre pompidou 1234774940

Jean Widmer, the influential French-Swiss graphic designer who created the iconic visual identity for the Centre Pompidou, has died at age 96. Widmer is best known for distilling the complex, high-tech architecture of Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers into a minimalist logo of black lines and a zig-zagging diagonal, a design that has remained unchanged since the museum's opening in 1977. Beyond the Pompidou, his career spanned fashion art direction at Le Jardin des Modes and the creation of France's standardized highway signage system.

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candle obituary schedule Apr 3, 2026 visibility 7 link 1 artist, 1 gallery

In Memoriam: Melvin Edwards (1937–2026)

Renowned sculptor Melvin Edwards, a pioneer of the Black Art Movement who transformed welded steel into powerful explorations of African American identity, has passed away at the age of 88. Edwards was best known for his "Lynch Fragments," a series of over 300 compact, wall-mounted assemblages that utilized industrial materials like chains, meathooks, and barbed wire to evoke the history of racial violence and the struggle for civil rights. His career spanned over six decades, beginning with a breakout solo show at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in 1965 and a landmark exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1970.

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candle obituary schedule Mar 10, 2026 visibility 11 link 3 artists

From 1999: Charlotte Perriand, Designer, Is Dead at 96

Charlotte Perriand, the pioneering French designer and architect, has died at age 96. Her career spanned most of the 20th century, during which she collaborated with giants like Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret, creating iconic modernist furniture and championing a vision of functional, democratic design.

newspaper New York Times Art open_in_new Read original

candle obituary schedule Apr 16, 2026 visibility 10 link 3 artists

Douglas Lees obituary

Douglas Lees, a dedicated architect and community figure, has died at the age of 94. Born in East London and overcoming the physical limitations of Erb’s palsy, Lees spent his career designing diverse structures across England, ranging from new town developments in Merseyside to prison facilities for the Home Office. In his later years, he became a fixture in the village of Hatfield Broad Oak, where he contributed to local planning and captured the local scenery through watercolor painting.

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candle obituary schedule Apr 18, 2026 visibility 5 link 1 artist

Paul Waldman, Creator and Curator of Art Museum for Birds, Dies at 89

Paul Waldman, a multifaceted artist known for his transgressive paintings and unique architectural birdhouses, has died at the age of 89. After overcoming childhood dyslexia and a stint as a competitive bodybuilder, Waldman established a significant career in the New York art scene, characterized by his meticulous technique and a fascination with the human form and avian structures.

newspaper New York Times Art open_in_new Read original

candle obituary schedule Apr 3, 2026 visibility 11 link 1 artist

Pedro Friedeberg, Whose Hand Chair Drew Outsize Attention, Dies at 90

Pedro Friedeberg, the Mexican surrealist artist and designer, has died at age 90. He was best known for his iconic "Hand Chair," a functional sculpture shaped like a hand that became a symbol of 1960s and '70s pop culture and design, as well as for his intricate, fantastical paintings of impossible architectures.

newspaper New York Times Art open_in_new Read original

candle obituary schedule Mar 27, 2026 visibility 10 link 1 artist, 1 gallery

Henrike Naumann (1984–2026): Domestic Responsibilities

The article is a personal reflection on the work and legacy of artist Henrike Naumann, who passed away in 2026. The author, a peer from West Germany, contrasts their own upbringing with Naumann's East German background, detailing how Naumann's practice critically examined the domestic interiors and built environments of post-war Germany to explore the social and political responsibilities embedded within everyday objects and art's role as "stage design" in a fascist-leaning society.

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candle obituary schedule Mar 30, 2026 visibility 7

Desmond Williams obituary

Architect Desmond Williams, known for designing modern Catholic churches, has died at age 93. His work, which includes four listed churches, was celebrated for its innovative integration of liturgical function, architectural ambition, and artistic collaboration, placing him among the leading figures of postwar British architecture.

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