Art News. Vasari Codex

candle obituary schedule Apr 30, 2026 visibility 45 link 7 artists, 1 gallery

Georg Baselitz, German artist who turned figurative painting on its head, has died, aged 88

Georg Baselitz, the influential German painter and sculptor, died on 30 April at age 88. Born Hans-Georg Kern in 1938 in Deutschbaselitz, he grew up amid the ruins of Nazi Germany and later adopted his surname from his birthplace. Expelled from the East Berlin Academy for "sociopolitical immaturity," he moved to West Berlin, where he rejected both gestural abstraction and Expressionism. His first solo exhibition in 1963 was shut down for obscenity. In 1969 he pioneered his signature inverted paintings, turning subjects upside down to sever image from representation. He also created large carved sculptures using axes and chainsaws. His later series, from 2014 onward, are considered his most astonishing work, culminating in a sustained focus on his wife, artist Elke Kretzschmar.

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candle obituary schedule Jan 12, 2026 visibility 23 link 7 artists, 1 gallery

beatriz gonzalez painter dead

Beatriz González, a pioneering Colombian painter and one of the most important Latin American artists of the 20th century, died on Friday at her home in Bogotá at age 93. Her Zurich-based representative, Galerie Peter Kilchmann, announced her passing but did not specify a cause. González first gained fame in the 1960s by remaking art historical masterpieces by Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci in a deliberately garish color palette, later pivoting in the 1980s to explicitly political works critiquing government violence in Colombia. Her career included major exhibitions at Documenta 14 in 2017, the Museum of Modern Art's 2019 rehang, and a retrospective that premiered at the Pinacoteca de São Paulo and will travel to the Barbican Centre in London and the Astrup Fearnley Museet in Oslo.

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candle obituary schedule Sep 22, 2025 visibility 21 link 11 artists

art world figures remember late patron agnes gund a legend and icon

Agnes Gund, a towering art collector and patron of New York's Museum of Modern Art, died Thursday in Manhattan at age 87. Following the announcement, artists and cultural workers including Roxana Marcoci, Glenn Ligon, Lorna Simpson, and Hoor Al Qasimi honored her memory on social media, recalling her friendship, generosity, and commitment to social justice. Gund spearheaded MoMA's 1990s expansion, founded the arts education nonprofit Studio in the School in 1977, and in 2017 sold Roy Lichtenstein's "Masterpiece" (1962) to launch the Art for Justice Fund, a $100 million grant initiative for criminal justice reform.

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candle obituary schedule Sep 22, 2025 visibility 22 link 25 artists

agnes gund dead moma art collecting

Agnes Gund, one of the most influential art patrons in the United States, has died at 87. Her collecting and philanthropy transformed the American art world, particularly at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), where she served as president from 1991 to 2002 and remained a life trustee. Gund helped fund MoMA's 2004 expansion, designed by Yoshio Taniguchi, and played a key role in bringing MoMA PS1 under the museum's aegis in 1999. She was a longtime donor of over 250 works to MoMA, including pieces by Jasper Johns, Elizabeth Murray, and Julie Mehretu, and appeared on the ARTnews Top 200 Collectors list every year from 1990 to 2018.

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candle obituary schedule Dec 9, 2025 visibility 25 link 20 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.

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candle obituary schedule Sep 19, 2025 visibility 25 link 19 artists

Agnes Gund, collector and philanthropist who helped transform MoMA, has died, aged 87

Agnes Gund, the influential American arts philanthropist and collector, has died at age 87. Gund was a transformative figure at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, serving on its board from 1976, as president from 1991 to 2002, and later as president emerita. She helped raise funds for MoMA's $858m expansion, donated around 100 works to the museum, and pushed for acquisitions of women and artists of color. Beyond MoMA, she founded Studio in a School in 1977 to bring art education to New York City public schools and co-chaired a Sotheby's auction to support Miss Porter's School. Her death was first reported by The New York Times; she is survived by four children.

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candle obituary schedule Feb 20, 2026 visibility 15 link 2 artists

isaiah zagar artist philadelphia magic gardens died 86

Isaiah Zagar, the visionary mosaic artist behind the landmark Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens, died on February 19 at age 86 due to complications from heart failure and Parkinson’s Disease. A Pratt Institute graduate and former Peace Corps volunteer, Zagar transformed Philadelphia’s South Street neighborhood over five decades, creating more than 200 public murals and a sprawling, immersive environment of tunnels and grottos made from glass, tile, and found objects.

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candle obituary schedule Jul 18, 2025 visibility 11 link 3 artists, 1 gallery

Farhad Moshiri In the Raha Gallery Collection

Iranian artist Farhad Moshiri passed away on July 17, 2024, at age 61. A pioneering figure in Middle Eastern contemporary art, Moshiri made history as the first artist from the region to sell a work at auction for over one million USD, achieving this milestone twice—first with "Love" at Bonhams Dubai in 2008 and later with "Secret Garden" at Christie's Dubai in 2013. The article highlights his work "Toothpicker" (2008), now part of the Raha Gallery Collection, which was exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery in London in 2010 and sold at Christie's Middle East in 2014. Moshiri's practice combined pop art, kitsch, and precious materials like crystals and glitter, earning him a solo exhibition at the Andy Warhol Museum in 2017.

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candle obituary schedule Apr 11, 2026 visibility 20

Pearl Fryar, a Picasso of Plants, Dies at 86

Pearl Fryar, the visionary self-taught topiary artist who transformed his yard in Bishopville, South Carolina, into a world-renowned botanical masterpiece, has died at age 86. Starting in the 1980s with no formal training, Fryar used a gas-powered hedge trimmer to sculpt salvaged plants into gravity-defying, abstract geometric forms that drew thousands of international visitors to his three-acre property.

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