Gallerist Bruno Bischofberger, Who Catalyzed Basquiat/Warhol Collaboration, Dies at 86

Swiss art dealer Bruno Bischofberger, who catalyzed the famous collaboration between Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, died on May 9 at age 86. His death was announced by his namesake gallery, which he had operated since 1963. Bischofberger played a pivotal role in introducing US Pop artists to Europe, representing Warhol and Basquiat, and commissioning collaborative works that led Warhol to return to painting after a two-decade hiatus. He also represented European artists like Francesco Clemente, Enzo Cucchi, Gerhard Richter, and Jean Tinguely, and his idiosyncratic ads graced Artforum's back cover for nearly four decades.

arnulf rainer dead

Arnulf Rainer, the Austrian artist known for his relentless experimentation and his signature "overpaintings" (Übermalungen), died on December 18 at age 96 at his home in Austria. His death was confirmed by his gallery, Thaddaeus Ropac. Over seven decades, Rainer produced abstract works tied to the Art Informel movement, layering dense pigment over existing images—first his own, then works by artists like Emilio Vedova. He also created "blind drawings" and overpainted photographic self-portraits in series such as "Face Farces" and "Body Poses." His career included major exhibitions at Documenta, the Venice Biennale, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Centre Pompidou, and he taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna from 1981 to 1995.

tony bechara painter dead el museo del barrio

Tony Bechara, a Puerto Rican-born artist known for his intricate multicolored grid paintings and his long tenure as board chair of El Museo del Barrio, died on his 83rd birthday. His death was confirmed by the museum, though no cause was given. Bechara spent decades creating labor-intensive canvases built from thousands of hand-painted quarter-inch squares, exploring randomness and controlled chaos. Beyond his studio practice, he served as board chair of El Museo del Barrio for 18 years, was a trustee at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Brooklyn Rail, and championed the work of painter Carmen Herrera, helping to secure her a Whitney Museum survey in 2016.

Georg Baselitz (1938-2026)

Georg Baselitz, born Hans-Georg Kern in 1938, has died at age 88. The German painter and sculptor, who changed his name in 1961, built a career on aesthetic dissent. Expelled from art school in East Berlin, he first gained notoriety with a 1963 exhibition at Galerie Werner and Katz in Berlin, where two works were seized for obscenity. His signature gesture—inverting his images, beginning with "Der Wald auf dem Kopf" in 1969—became his most recognizable trademark, shifting focus from subject to the act of painting itself. Baselitz also produced significant sculptures, often carved with a chainsaw and axe, and his work was the subject of major retrospectives at the Centre Pompidou (2021-2022) and the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris (2011-2012).

Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Abstract Painter Who Refused to Conform, Dies at 84

Mary Lovelace O’Neal, an abstract painter known for her gestural, unruly works that defied categorization, died on Sunday in Mérida, Mexico, at age 84. Her galleries, Jenkins Johnson and Marianne Boesky, announced her passing. O’Neal produced sprawling paintings characterized by tangles of drippy strokes, often using lamp black pigment to create intensely black canvases. She rejected labels like Abstract Expressionist or Minimalist, insisting she was simply a painter. Her series "Whales Fucking" (1979) and a 2020 exhibition at Mnuchin Gallery revived her profile, leading to inclusion in the 2024 Whitney Biennial.

Raghu Rai’s masterful images of Indian life – in pictures

Raghu Rai, the celebrated Indian photographer who was recruited to Magnum Photos by Henri Cartier-Bresson in 1977, has died at the age of 83. Over five decades, he produced defining images of Indian life, ranging from intimate portraits of Mother Teresa to stark documentation of the Bhopal disaster. His work captured both the grand and the everyday, from crowds at Mumbai's Churchgate railway station to slums in Dharavi, and he published more than 18 books, receiving multiple awards for his unflinching human gaze.

Jasmine Little, Los Angeles Painter and Ceramicist, Dies at 41

jasmine little painter dead

Los Angeles-based artist Jasmine Little has passed away at the age of 41, as confirmed by her gallery, La Loma. Known for her versatile practice that spanned lush still-life paintings and intricate sgraffito ceramic vessels, Little's work often blended historical references with personal mythology. Her gallerist, Kirk Nelson, remembered her as a "force of nature" who produced monumental sculptures and detailed narratives through intense, dedicated periods of creation.

Calvin Tomkins, Who Profiled Giants of Modern Art, Dies at 100

Calvin Tomkins, the longtime New Yorker staff writer renowned for his profiles of major 20th-century artists, has died at the age of 100. His career spanned more than six decades at the magazine, where he produced intimate and influential portraits of figures like Marcel Duchamp and Robert Rauschenberg, and authored several books including "Living Well Is the Best Revenge."

Raghu Rai, pioneering Indian photographer, 1942–2026

Raghu Rai, the pioneering Indian photographer and photojournalist, has died at age 84. Over his career, he produced more than 30 books covering subjects such as Tibetan exile, Mother Teresa, Indira Gandhi, and Sikhs in India. His most famous work documented the 1984 Bhopal chemical disaster, first for India Today and later for Greenpeace, resulting in the book *Exposure: A Corporate Crime* and exhibitions that toured Europe, the US, and Bangladesh. Rai began his career at The Statesman in 1966, joined India Today in 1982, and became a member of Magnum Photos in 1977 under the patronage of Henri Cartier-Bresson. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1972 for his coverage of the 1971 India-Pakistan War and the plight of Bangladeshi refugees.

Mark Gerson obituary

Mark Gerson, a British photographer renowned for his intimate portraits of literary figures, has died at age 104. Over a career spanning half a century, Gerson captured iconic images of authors including Evelyn Waugh, Doris Lessing, William Golding, Tom Stoppard, and Martin Amis, often photographing them in their own homes to put them at ease. His most famous picture is of a grumpy Waugh on his 60th birthday, taken after Gerson was plied with wine. Gerson's work was championed by National Portrait Gallery director Roy Strong, and in 1996 the gallery held a major exhibition of his portraits titled "Literati."

robert wilson memorial silence

A memorial for the late theater visionary Robert Wilson was held at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) Harvey Theater, featuring a 30-minute period of silence as requested by Wilson before his death at age 83. The gathering drew luminaries including Philip Glass, Rufus Wainwright, Laurie Anderson, ANOHNI, Christopher Knowles, Joan Jonas, and Paula Cooper, none of whom spoke during the main program. The silence was punctuated by shifting lighting and a recorded ringing telephone, followed by remarks from William Campbell, chairman of Wilson's Watermill Center, and Joseph Melillo, former BAM executive producer.

Steven Durland, Champion of Performance Art, Dies at 75

Steven Durland, a longtime editor of *High Performance* magazine and a champion of performance art, died on March 11 at age 75 after a brief illness. His life partner, Linda Frye Burnham, confirmed his death in Saxapahaw, North Carolina. Durland was born in Long Beach, California, raised in South Dakota, and trained as a ceramic artist with a BFA from the University of South Dakota and an MFA from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He became deeply involved in performance and mail art, and from 1986 to 1994 served as editor of *High Performance*, a magazine founded by Burnham that featured thousands of artists including Nancy Buchanan, Carolee Schneemann, Paul McCarthy, Suzanne Lacy, and Ulysses Jenkins. Durland also maintained his own artistic practice, creating performances such as "Win Defeat/BID FOR POWER" (1978) and "Death and Taxis" (1982), and produced the micro-newspaper *Tacit*.

Remembering Asher Remy-Toledo, Media Art Luminary

Asher Remy-Toledo, a Colombian-born cultural producer and a central figure in New York's media art scene, died on February 22 at age 62 from Hodgkin's lymphoma. He was the founder and director of Hyphen Hub, an international art organization, and previously ran the influential Remy Toledo Gallery in Chelsea, which showcased feminist and post-feminist artists.

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.

Art21 Remembers Agnes Gund

Agnes Gund, the influential arts patron and philanthropist, has passed away. The organization Art21, a leading producer of media about contemporary artists, released a statement mourning her loss and highlighting her role as one of its earliest and most steadfast supporters, having helped shape its mission from the beginning.

Henrike Naumann—selected for this year's Germany pavilion at the Venice Biennale—has died

Artist Henrike Naumann, who was selected alongside Sung Tieu to represent Germany at the 2024 Venice Biennale, has died at age 39. She passed away on February 14 in Berlin after a short, serious illness, which her website specified was a late cancer diagnosis. The Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (Ifa), which oversees the German Pavilion, confirmed her death and stated that her planned work for the Biennale will be realized posthumously according to her completed vision.