This week's obituary column honors several significant figures from the art world who recently passed away. The list includes celebrated New Yorker art writer Calvin Tomkins, Houston art patrons Brad and Leslie Bucher, British airbrush artist Philip Castle, master jeweler Thomas Gentille, art historian Charlotte Gere, Alabama sculptor Robert L. "Larry" Godwin, comic artist Sam Kieth, photographer Carol Kitman, and Russian-Italian artist Swietlan Nicholas Kraczyna.
These losses represent a broad swath of artistic and cultural influence, from chronicling 20th-century art history to shaping public art, album cover design, and jewelry. Calvin Tomkins, in particular, is noted as a defining chronicler of contemporary art, whose decades of profiles provided an essential record of the field. The collective passing of these patrons, makers, and scholars marks the end of distinct eras and contributions across visual culture.