Hyperallergic's weekly 'In Memoriam' column honors seven figures from the art world who recently passed away, including German Neo-Expressionist painter Georg Baselitz, feminist cartoonist Nicole Hollander, and arts patron Doris F. Fisher, co-founder of The Gap. Other notable figures remembered are photographer Stephanie Chernikowski, West Coast assemblage artist George Herms, Spanish artist and designer José María Cruz Novillo, and Bay Area muralist Dan Fontes. The article provides brief biographies and highlights of their contributions to visual art, photography, comics, and public art.
This roundup matters because it collectively memorializes a diverse range of influential figures whose work shaped distinct corners of the art world—from Baselitz's provocative postwar German painting and Fisher's transformative donation to SFMOMA, to Hollander's groundbreaking feminist comics and Chernikowski's documentation of punk and rock culture. The column underscores the breadth of the visual art ecosystem, acknowledging not only canonical artists but also patrons, photographers, and muralists whose legacies continue to resonate in museums, public spaces, and cultural discourse.