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, 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.

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.

Valie Export obituary

Valie Export, the pioneering Austrian feminist artist known for provocative performances, films, and photographs that challenged the representation of women, has died at age 85. Born Waltraud Lehner, she renamed herself Valie Export in 1967 and became a central figure in the global feminist art movement, creating works such as "Touch and Grope Cinema" (1968) and "Action Pants: Genital Panic" (1969) that used her body to disrupt male gaze and social conventions. Her practice spanned expanded cinema, sculpture, and photography, and she was associated with Viennese Actionism while critiquing its sexism.

Eine andere Schönheit, die bleibt

Elfie Semotan, the internationally renowned Austrian photographer who began her career as a model, has died at the age of 84. The article recounts her life and work, including a 2024 visit to her exhibition "Inspiration Comes from Everyday Life" at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York, where her photographs were shown alongside designs by Nina Hollein. Semotan was born in Wels in 1941, studied at the Modeschule Hetzendorf in Vienna, and worked as a model in Paris before turning to photography in the late 1960s. Her images appeared in magazines such as Vogue, Elle, Esquire, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, and The New Yorker. She was married to artist Martin Kippenberger and moved between New York, Vienna, and a farmhouse in Jennersdorf, Austria.

Julio Le Parc, Father of Interactive Art, Dies at 97

Franco-Argentinian artist Julio Le Parc, a pioneer of kinetic and Op art whose interactive works presaged contemporary participatory art, died in Paris on May 30 at age 97. The last surviving cofounder of the Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel (GRAV), Le Parc spent nearly seven decades creating works that harnessed light, color, movement, and reflection, completed by viewer participation. He won the International Grand Prize for Painting at the 1966 Venice Biennale, was expelled from France for his protest involvement, and continued experimenting with virtual reality into his nineties.

Disparition de la galeriste Anisabelle Berès-Montanari

Anisabelle Berès-Montanari, a prominent Parisian gallerist, has died at age 78. Born in 1948, she joined the family business Galerie Berès in 1975, which was founded by her mother Huguette Berès in 1952. Over decades, she built the gallery's reputation through scholarly exhibitions on Japanese prints, Manet, the Nabis, and overlooked modern artists like Henri Laurens and Serge Férat. In 2019, she became the first woman president of the Syndicat national des antiquaires (SNA), serving until 2023. The gallery continues under her daughters Florence Berès-Montanari and Capucine Montanari-Fleury.

Elfie Semotan, Austrian Fashion Photographer, Dies at 84

Elfie Semotan, an Austrian fashion photographer renowned for her long collaboration with designer Helmut Lang, died unexpectedly on Saturday at age 84 in Jennersdorf, Austria. Born in Wels in 1941, Semotan studied fashion in Vienna, worked as a model in Paris, and launched her photography career in the 1970s with provocative ad campaigns for Palmers lingerie and Römerquelle mineral water. She also shot portraits of art-world figures including Louise Bourgeois, Maria Lassnig, Daniel Richter, and Martin Kippenberger, to whom she was briefly married. Her work appeared in magazines such as the New Yorker, Vogue, and Esquire, and she taught at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and the International Summer Academy in Salzburg.

Death of Marjane Satrapi

Disparition de Marjane Satrapi

Marjane Satrapi, the Franco-Iranian artist best known for her graphic novel "Persepolis," has died at age 56, according to the Académie des beaux-arts, where she had been a member since 2024. Born in Rasht, Iran, in 1969, Satrapi rose to prominence with "Persepolis" (2000-2003), a four-volume autobiographical account of her childhood during the Iranian Revolution and her exile. The work established her as a central figure in European comics, blending stark black-and-white drawings with a deeply personal narrative of political and social upheaval. She later adapted "Persepolis" into an acclaimed animated film (2007), winning the Prix du Jury at Cannes and two César awards, and expanded into painting and public activism, notably coordinating the 2023 collective book "Femme, vie, liberté" after the death of Mahsa Amini.

Colen Lumley obituary

Colen Lumley, an architect, critic, and painter who helped shape postwar Cambridge architecture, has died at age 93. He was a partner to modernist architect Sir Leslie Martin, contributing to projects such as the Faculty of Music building at Cambridge University, the Museum of Modern Art Oxford, and the Gulbenkian Foundation gallery in Lisbon. After his architectural career, he devoted himself to painting, exhibiting through Cambridge Open Studios.

Julio Le Park, Kinetic Sculpture and Op-Art Master, Dies at 97

Julio Le Parc, the Argentine-French artist renowned for his kinetic sculptures and Op-Art paintings, has died at the age of 97. Over a 70-year career, he created socially engaged works that used shifting lights, motors, and everyday objects like Ping-Pong balls to actively involve viewers in the experience of art.

Alan Saret, Sculptor Who Made Clouds of Wire, Dies at 81

Alan Saret, the American sculptor known for his ethereal, cloud-like wire sculptures, has died at the age of 81. His best-known works were large, airy tangles of wire that evoked tumbleweeds, nests, or tulle, often designed to sway gently in the breeze if a window was open. Saret emerged in the 1960s as part of the post-minimalist movement, gaining recognition for his innovative use of industrial materials to create delicate, seemingly weightless forms.

Ruth Artmonsky obituary

Ruth Artmonsky, a pioneer in psychometric testing and co-founder of the consultancy Saville & Holdsworth (SHL), has died at age 94. After selling her share in the company in 1997, she pivoted to the art world, opening Artmonsky Arts gallery in St John’s Wood, London, and later authored 36 books on art, design, and advertising, including *Designing Women* (2012) and *Modern Design in 1930s Britain* (2026).

Gallerist Valentine Willie, pioneer at Tanjong Pagar Distripark, dies at 71

Valentine Francis Willie, a pioneering Malaysian gallerist, curator, and art entrepreneur, died in Kuala Lumpur on June 9 at age 71. Born in Sabah, he founded Valentine Willie Fine Art in 1996, which became the first gallery to open at Singapore's Tanjong Pagar Distripark in 2008. A lawyer by training, Willie curated landmark exhibitions such as 'Asean Masterworks' (1997) and 'Faith + The City' (2001), and helped launch the careers of artists like Bayu Utomo Radjikin and Yee I-Lann. He later served as creative director of Ilham Gallery from 2015 to 2020, shaping Kuala Lumpur's cultural landscape.

Elfie Semotan mit 84 Jahren gestorben

Elfie Semotan, the Austrian photographer known for her incisive portraits and fashion photography, died on Saturday at age 84 after suffering a suspected cardiac arrest while swimming in the Freibad Jennersdorf pool. Born in Wels in 1941, Semotan began her career as a model in Paris before turning to photography, becoming a defining voice in international fashion and portrait photography. She shot for magazines such as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and the New Yorker, capturing figures from Naomi Campbell to Brad Pitt, and created iconic campaigns for Palmers and Römerquelle in Austria.

Baselitz, le monde à l’envers

German painter and sculptor Georg Baselitz, a major figure in contemporary art, died on April 30, 2026, at age 88. Born Hans-Georg Kern in 1938 near Dresden, he created a singular body of work over six decades, marked by violent, provocative painting and his radical 1969 inversion of motifs, which upended representational conventions.

Marjane Satrapi, Author of “Persepolis,” Dies at 56

Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian-French filmmaker and author best known for her graphic novel series and film "Persepolis," died on June 3 at age 56. Her death was announced by French President Emmanuel Macron, with her family attributing the cause to "sadness" following the death of her husband, Mattias Ripa, the previous year. Satrapi rose to international fame with "Persepolis," which chronicled her childhood and young adulthood in Iran and Austria against the backdrop of the Islamic Revolution, earning her a Jury Prize at Cannes and an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature.

Marjane Satrapi, French-Iranian graphic novelist, dies at 56

Marjane Satrapi, the acclaimed French-Iranian graphic novelist and filmmaker best known for her autobiographical work *Persepolis*, has died at age 56. Her family confirmed her death, attributing it to grief following the loss of her husband, screenwriter Mattias Ripa, over a year earlier. Satrapi rose to international fame with *Persepolis*, a black-and-white graphic novel published in four volumes between 2000 and 2003, which chronicles her childhood in Tehran during and after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The book was later adapted into an animated film that earned an Oscar nomination and won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2007. In 2024, she oversaw *Woman, Life, Freedom*, a graphic anthology responding to the death of Mahsa Amini.

Marjane Satrapi, graphic novelist, film director, activist, 1969–2026

Marjane Satrapi, the acclaimed French-Iranian graphic novelist and film director, has died at age fifty-six. Best known for her autobiographical graphic novel series *Persepolis* (2000–03), which chronicled her childhood during the Iranian Revolution and subsequent exile, Satrapi also co-directed the film adaptation that won the Jury Prize at Cannes and two César Awards. She published other notable works including *Embroideries* and *Chicken with Plums*, and remained a vocal critic of the Iranian government, editing the protest comic collection *Woman, Life, Freedom* after the death of Mahsa Amini. In 2025, she refused France's Légion d'Honneur, citing French hypocrisy toward Iran. She died of grief, according to close associates, just over a year after the death of her husband, filmmaker Mattias Ripa.

L’autrice de BD, artiste et réalisatrice Marjane Satrapi est morte à 56 ans

Marjane Satrapi, the Franco-Iranian graphic novelist, artist, and filmmaker, died on June 4, 2026, in Paris at age 56. According to a statement from her loved ones, she died of grief just over a year after the death of her husband, producer and screenwriter Mattias Ripa, who passed away on April 8, 2025. Satrapi was best known for her autobiographical graphic novel series *Persepolis* (2000–2003), which chronicled her childhood in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution, the repression under the regime, and her exile to Europe. The series sold over a million copies in France and was adapted into an animated film in 2007, winning the Jury Prize at Cannes and two César Awards. She later worked in film and painting, exhibiting at Galerie Françoise Livinec in 2020 with a show titled "Femmes ou rien."

Marjane Satrapi, "Persepolis" Author and Human Rights Fighter, Dies at 56

Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian-French artist, director, and author of the acclaimed graphic novel *Persepolis*, has died at age 56. Her death was announced by the office of French President Emmanuel Macron on June 4, with no official cause given, though a close friend said she “died of sadness” following the death of her husband, Swedish producer Mattias Ripa, just over a year ago. Satrapi was best known for *Persepolis*, a graphic memoir about her childhood during the Islamic Revolution, which became an Oscar-nominated animated film and has been widely taught despite bans in Iran and censorship in some U.S. school districts. She also directed films such as *The Voices* and *Radioactive*, and in 2024 co-created the graphic essay collection *Woman, Life, Freedom* in response to the death of Mahsa Jina Amini.

"Persepolis" author Satrapi is dead

"Persepolis"-Autorin Satrapi ist tot

Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian-French author and illustrator best known for her autobiographical graphic novel "Persepolis," has died at age 56. Her death was announced by the Élysée Palace in Paris and Abbas Bakhtiari, head of the Iranian cultural association Pouya in Paris. Satrapi rose to international fame with "Persepolis," which chronicles her childhood in Iran, experiences of exile and migration, and the impact of political upheaval. She also co-directed the acclaimed 2007 animated film adaptation and created other graphic works such as "Broderies" and "Poulet aux prunes," while working as a film director and screenwriter.

Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian cartoonist author of "Persepolis," has died

È morta Marjane Satrapi, la fumettista iraniana autrice di “Persepolis”

Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian graphic novelist best known for her autobiographical work "Persepolis," has died at age 56. Her family announced her passing in a statement to AFP, attributing her death to grief following the loss of her husband Mattias Ripa just over a year earlier. Satrapi, who lived in France for about thirty years, rose to international fame with "Persepolis," published in 2000 and adapted into a successful animated film in 2007. Born in Rasht, Iran in 1969 and raised in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution and Iran-Iraq war, she later studied in Vienna and Paris, where she was introduced to the world of comics by artist David B.