Obituaries
News
Remembering Frank Auerbach, one of the leading artists of his generation, who has died aged 93
The German-born British painter, a leading figure in the School of London, produced some of the most enduring and perceptive observations of what it meant to be alive during his time
An infinite conversation: Hans Ulrich Obrist's personal memoir of Kasper König, curator, publisher, teacher, museum director, and friend to artists
The artistic director of Serpentine, recalls 35 years of friendship and collaboration with the cultural impresario who was one of the most important curators of the second half of the 20th century
Remembering Alain Delon, screen idol and dedicated art collector, who has died aged 88
A personal memoir recalling the French actor’s “serious case of collectoritis” that saw him acquiring works by Albrecht Dürer, Théodore Géricault and Georges Braque
Remembering Bill Viola, the artist whose video work expresses the heights and depths of human emotions
The influential American pioneer produced a ground-breaking body of work in partnership with his wife, Kira Perov, over more than 45 years
Remembering the Dutch avant-garde artist Jacqueline de Jong
Her six decade-long career was distinguished by experimentation and humour
Further obituaries
Art and artists
Obituaries of painters, sculptors and digital artists
Remembering Frank Stella, one of the leading abstract artists of his generation
The American artist married complex with simple, from Minimalist canvases to “maximalist” sculptures
Remembering Faith Ringgold, one of the great story-tellers of American art
New York artist was acclaimed for the power of her paintings and quilts telling the civil rights story
Remembering Richard Serra, the American sculptor whose monumental works conjure a sense of wonder in the world
"The acerbic and sometimes misanthropic troublemaker who was such a generous champion of younger artists and critics"
Artur Snitkus, Ukrainian artist and musician, killed in combat near Donetsk, aged 36
In tributes, friends and colleagues described him as “icon of the Ukrainian queer underground” and “a holy man”
Remembering Pope.L, the self-proclaimed 'friendliest Black artist in America'
His 50-year career was filled with transgressive performances, including the Times Square Crawls, which interrogated race and class
Politics and society
Obituaries of politicians, heads of state and social leaders connected to art and the art world
Remembering Henry Kissinger, master of art politics, whose Cold War diplomacy still had resonance in 2023
Kissinger, one of the most photographed men of his time, with an instantly recognisable pair of spectacles, was a powerful graphic gift to artists including Philip Guston
Remembering Queen Elizabeth II, the British sovereign who perfected the fine art of monarchy
Over seven decades, the monarch used ceremonial, media and heritage to project soft power around the globe
Pope Benedict XVI, for eight years proprietor in trust of the Vatican's library and art collection, has died aged 95
The German-born conservative pontiff, a noted theological scholar, tried to accommodate contemporary art but became a subject of satire
Harry Belafonte, singer, actor and civil rights champion inspired by artists' involvement in social causes, has died, aged 96
Belafonte cited Pablo Picasso and his artist friend Charles White among the visual and performing artists whose support of social justice movements inspired his activism
Silvio Berlusconi, politician and early proponent of 'culture war' rhetoric, has died, aged 86
The outspoken leader of three Italian governments between 1994 and 2011 was often publicly critical of contemporary art and architecture projects in Italy
Philanthropy
Remembering Jacob Rothschild, banker, collector, philanthropist, and a towering figure in the British art world
A scion of the famous banking dynasty, he led the National Gallery, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Waddesdon Manor
Remembering Myriam Ullens, art collector, and philanthropist, who launched the first contemporary art museum in China
Belgian entrepreneur in fashion, food and art, co-founded the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, in Beijing, with her husband, Guy Ullens
John Sainsbury, former supermarket boss and major patron of British museums, has died aged 94
Benefactors of his gifts include London's National Gallery, Tate Britain, Dulwich Picture Gallery, the British Museum, the Ashmolean Museum and the Royal Opera House
Evelyn de Rothschild—banker, collector, art patron and philanthropist—has died, aged 91
He inherited his family's Ascott House collection of English furniture, Chinese porcelain, British paintings and Old Masters, and built a new collection of Modern and contemporary works with his third wife, Lynn Forester
Tribute to Marella Agnelli—doyenne of high society
The art collector and museum founder who married into the Agnelli dynasty was a woman of charm and intelligence
Art market
Leading New York gallerist Barbara Gladstone has died, aged 89
The dealer, who died in Paris “after a brief illness”, represented many of the most ambitious contemporary artists of the past half-century
Bonhams executive Alex Fortescue has died aged 55
His death was confirmed by Epiris, the private equity firm that owns the auction house
Remembering Virginia Dwan: champion of land artists and the US's first bicoastal gallerist
Hugely influential art dealer whose galleries in Los Angeles and New York launched Minimalism and Land Art in the US
Remembering Michel Strauss, Impressionist supremo at Sotheby’s over four decades
Expert from a French collecting dynasty saw first-hand the fast-changing art world of the 1960s and helped British Rail create its renowned collection
Peregrine Pollen, who revitalised auction industry and laid the ground for the booming art market of the 21st century, has died, age 89
One of the most dynamic figures in the international expansion of Sotheby's in the 1960s and 1970s, descended from generations of collectors and men of action
Art criticism
Remembering Peter Schjeldahl: indispensable critic, poet, and lyrical observer of the embodied experience of art
His direct and personal style made him a well-respected chronicler of the US art scene for over 50 years
Considering Greg Tate’s transformative impact on cultural criticism
The writer, musician and professor, who died earlier this month, wrote some of the most influential and creative art criticism of the past half-century
Dave Hickey, influential critic who saw art as inseparable from everyday life, has died aged 82
He prized accessible writing and paired discussions of sports and food with his artistic analyses in widely read books like ‘The Invisible Dragon’ and ‘Air Guitar’
Art history and scholarship
Remembering Kavita Singh, acclaimed historian of Indian art and museology, who has died, aged 58
An expert on Mughal, Rajput and Deccan painting traditions, she was unafraid to address rising nationalism in state-led cultural institutions
Remembering Richard Verdi, art historian and long-time director of the Barber Institute, who has died, aged 81
An inspirational teacher, charismatic museum director, Poussin scholar and curator, he was working to the end
John Harris—an architectural historian and eagle-eyed connoisseur—has died, aged 90
A scholar of Inigo Jones and William Chambers, Harris mounted landmark exhibitions based on the RIBA drawings collection that he so radically transformed
Museums
Influential French curator Vincent Honoré, who put on shows at Tate Modern and Palais de Tokyo, has died
Art world figures including Nicolas Bourriaud pay tribute
Remembering Michael Archer, member of a golden age of curators at the Victoria and Albert Museum, who has died, aged 85
For more than 20 years, Archer enriched the ceramics department of the V&A with important acquisitions and research on glass, pottery and the tin-glazed earthenware on which he was a world authority
Achim Borchardt-Hume (1965-2021): an appreciation
The untimely death of the distinguished Tate Modern curator, who died last week at the age of 56, "leaves an enormous gap", writes former Tate director Nicholas Serota
Alan Bowness, museum director who established the Turner Prize and Tate Liverpool, has died aged 93
Scholar with an international outlook who was director of the Henry Moore Foundation and executor of his mother-in-law, Barbara Hepworth
Remembering Alan Bowness, Tate director who helped change public attitudes to contemporary art
His successor at the London institution pays personal tribute to the persuasive and effective British curator, writer and critic
Architecture
Remembering Richard Rogers, Centre Pompidou architect who waded into the culture wars with his unique, hi-tech style
Anglo-Italian architect was responsible for numerous landmark buildings around the world including the Lloyd's insurance building in London
Rafael Viñoly—museum 'starchitect' who believed in experience over aesthetics—has died, aged 78
Uruguayan-born architect had an acute understanding of the visual arts and produced prize-winning buildings
Remembering Balkrishna Doshi, artist, teacher and father of modernist Indian architecture, who has died, aged 95
Innovative architect was at heart of rebuilding independent India, a protégé of Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn, and winner of the Pritzker Prize and the RIBA Royal Gold Medal
Antoine Predock, architect of distinctive museums in the US and Canada, has died, aged 87
His Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Tang Teaching Museum and Tacoma Art Museum were typical of an approach that melded modernism and post-modernism into a characteristically unpredictable aesthetic
Remembering Owen Luder, architect whose gifts ran far wider than the Brutalist landmarks he is known for
Two of his most famous buildings, the Tricorn Centre in Portsmouth and the Trinity Car Park and Shopping Centre in Gateshead, were demolished earlier this century
Collecting
Hamburg art collector and patron Harald Falckenberg dies aged 80
Falckenberg, one of Germany’s most important private art collectors, once said he was drawn to “outsiders and freaks"
Remembering Barry Humphries, art lover, artist and creator of Dame Edna Everage, who has died, aged 89
Australian comedian and actor was a passionate champion of museums, libraries and the visual arts, and a collector of late 19th-century artists and authors
Emily Fisher Landau, contemporary art collector and important Whitney Museum benefactor, has died, aged 102
Landau, whose discerning eye and aesthetic curiosity made her a fixture in the art world from the 1980s onward, began collecting after receiving an insurance settlement for a jewellery heist at her home
Remembering Jayne Wrightsman
A reminiscence of the New York socialite, arts patron and philanthropist by Keith Christiansen, the chairman of the Met's European Paintings Department
Eli Broad, an unexpected—and often unreasonable—arts patron
The self-made billionaire helped shape the Los Angeles art scene, while clashing with most of its prominent museum leaders
Heritage
Richard M. Barancik, the last living Monuments Man, has died, aged 98
He was part of a group that saved thousands of artworks during the Second World War from destruction and seizure by the Nazis
Remembering Desideria Pasolini Dall'Onda, who battled to protect Italy's ecology and cultural heritage
Writer, translator of Virginia Woolf, and historian of gardening and farming she became a champion of conservation by co-founding Italia Nostra
French general in charge of Notre Dame rebuild dies in a hiking accident
The death of Jean-Louis Georgelin might hamper efforts to reopen the cathedral by the end of 2024
Remembering Gianluigi Colalucci, who oversaw the 14-year restoration of Michelangelo's frescoes in the Sistine Chapel
The restorer expertly honoured the "oneness of a work of art" and always balanced its historical and aesthetic qualities
Obituary: Nathalie Brooke, a leading figure in the preservation of Venice
A remarkable cultural ambassador in London's art, political, and musical scene and on return visits to her native Russia. One of the founders of Venice in Peril
Fashion and design
Remembering Vivienne Westwood, godmother of punk and designer to the art tribe, who has died aged 81
The outspoken and original couturier referenced historical costume along with portraiture and campaigned for free access to museums
Issey Miyake, ground-breaking Japanese fashion designer and favourite of museum costume institutes, has died, aged 84
After surviving the atomic bombing of Hiroshima as a child, Miyake turned to clothes as a modern, optimistic form of creativity, and revived the use of pleats to create wearable, free-flowing, unisex clothes
Remembering Kenzo Takada, the designer and artist who created the first global, multicultural, fashion brand
In everything he made—clothes, spectacles inspired by his trademark round lenses, home furnishings, parfumerie—Takada's love of fine art remained close at hand
Remembering Terence Conran: a design maestro who rose alongside groovy London in the Swinging Sixties
From Habitat to the Design Museum, from the Soup Kitchen to Quaglino’s, he transformed Britain’s cultural landscape
Photography
'The Charlie Chaplin of street photography': Elliott Erwitt remembered by those who knew him best
Martin Parr and Magnum colleagues remember the renowned American street photographer, who has died at age 95
Brian Griffin, photographer of rock stars and construction workers, has died aged 75
Best known for his album covers for bands including Depeche Mode, the UK photographer was influenced by the heavy industry of the Black Country where he grew up
Kwame Brathwaite, photographer who encapsulated ‘Black is beautiful’ movement, has died, aged 85
The New York photographer pioneered lighting and developing techniques that helped transformed how Black figures were photographed and seen
Marilyn Stafford, a pioneer of street and fashion photography, has died, aged 97
Social observation was key to the work of the recently rediscovered protégée of Francesco Scavullo and Henri Cartier-Bresson
Remembering Peter Beard, photographer and artist, champion of East African wildlife, friend and collaborator of Francis Bacon and Andy Warhol
Photographer, diarist, and collagist who highlighted the destruction of the African elephant's habitat and bestrode New York society in the era of Studio 54
Theatre and film
Peter Brook, a giant of international theatre whose stage work moved in sympathy with the visual arts, has died, aged 97
Brook's influential "white-cube" 1970 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream and his epic 1985 realisation of the Sanskrit epic The Mahābhārata find echoes in art history
'A meteor blazing through the world': tributes pour in for the influential film producer Jess Search
The co-founder of The Doc Society and the architect behind numerous films by visual artists was diagnosed with a brain tumour in July
Kenneth Anger, creator of visionary and transgressive films, has died, aged 96
The film-maker and moving image artist was best known for his boundary-pushing (and, according to some, blasphemous) 1963 film “Scorpio Rising”
Literature
Remembering Paul Auster, the ground-breaking novelist who fused art and literature
The New Yorker's collaboration with the artist Sophie Calle was just one way in which art was interlaced with his life and work
Remembering Raymond Briggs: pioneering illustrator and creator of beloved book The Snowman
Briggs used his charming, low-tech visual style to devastating emotional effect in his adult, anti-war books as much as in his beloved children's tales and their film adaptations
‘As if he has just left the room’: a farewell tour of the studio of Raymond Briggs, creator of The Snowman
The Sussex house-cum-studio where the graphic novelist worked for six decades proves to be as colourful, characterful, and packed with verve as his classic visual narratives
Remembering Hanif Kureshi, the artist credited with popularising street art in India
Kureshi decorated India’s public spaces with beautiful, provocative and socially engaged murals
Paul Lowe, conflict photographer and teacher lauded for Sarajevo siege photographs, dies, aged 60
Acclaimed photojournalist's teenage son charged with his murder on a popular hiking trail near Los Angeles
François Duret-Robert, art market journalist, professor and collector, has died aged 92
The former editor of Connaissance des Arts was a leading figure in the French art market
Derek Boshier, British Pop artist widely known for his collaborations with David Bowie, has died, aged 87
Boshier’s work was often critical of US politics and consumerism
‘You must walk close to the edge’—the pioneering German artist Rebecca Horn dies, aged 80
Horn maintained a powerful drawing strand that supported her innovative conceptual sculpture practice around the human body in installations, performances and photographs
Remembering David Anfam, curator, writer and Abstract Expressionism connoisseur
The artist Erin Lawlor recalls her time spent with the art historian, who wrote defining texts on artists such as Mark Rothko and offered critical support for the next generation
Kasper König, pioneering curator and co-founder of Skulptur Projekte Münster, dies aged 80
The former director of Cologne’s Museum Ludwig “shaped the art discourse of the last five decades like no other", the museum says
Alex Janvier, visionary First Nations artist based in Canada, has died, aged 89
A prolific painter helped open doors for contemporary artists at a time when Indigenous art was often confined to ethnographic museums
Remembering Thomas Hoepker, a leading documentary photographer and editor of news reportage
Hoepker used long-form pictorial narratives to deliver nuanced takes on complex realities in a communist East Germany and capitalist United States
Audrey Flack, a pioneer of Photorealism, has died, aged 93
A survey of the artist's work from the last four years of her life, will be on view at the Parrish Art Museum this autumn
Anton van Dalen, who imaginatively chronicled life in Lower Manhattan, has died, aged 86
An East Village fixture for a half-century, Van Dalen created stylised drawings, paintings, sculptures and performances documenting his surroundings
Sidney Felsen, co-founder of influential Los Angeles printmaking studio Gemini GEL, has died, aged 99
Felsen was also a trained artist and prolific photographer, who documented his close contact with the artists who worked at Gemini
Benjamin Vautier, a French Fluxus artist known for his playful painted phrases, has died, aged 88
His irreverent texts, signed simply “Ben”, spanned art and merchandise that was ubiquitous in France
Israeli artist, curator and gallery founder Chaim Peri has died in Hamas captivity, aged 79
Peri, who was abducted from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on 7 October, was a multi-disciplinary artist and activist who founded The White House gallery
Frank Stella, a painter's painter and one of the leading abstract artists of his generation, has died, aged 87
His landmark "Black Paintings" series marked Stella as a Minimalist in the 1960s before he expanded his range to include brightly coloured pieces on shaped canvases, relief paintings, large-scale sculpture and work with architects
Faith Ringgold, acclaimed for the power of paintings and quilts that tell stories of the Civil Rights movement, has died, aged 93
A champion of fellow Black and women artists, the New York-born painter and sculptor made a second reputation as writer and illustrator of admired children's stories
Richard Serra, creator of audacious steel sculptures, has died aged 85
The American sculptor received the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale
Lucas Samaras, tirelessly adventurous New York artist, has died, aged 87
The Greek American artist was always willing to try new forms and materials, working across sculpture, photography, performance, installation and more
Renowned Palestinian artist Fathi Ghaben, unable to leave Gaza for medical treatment, dies aged 77
The artist, hailed as the "Van Gogh of Gaza", suffered from chest and lung issues that needed urgent care
Günter Brus, central figure of Viennese Actionism, has died, aged 85
Brus was the last surviving founder of the movement, though he abandoned performance art after 1970
Carl Andre, giant of Minimalism who was tried for and acquitted of murder, has died, aged 88
Andre rose to prominence in the New York art world of the 1960s to become a totemic—and controversial—figure renowned for his material-driven sculptures
Robert Whitman, artist renowned for experiments with performance and technology, has died, aged 88
Whitman was a pioneer of the early performance art events known as Happenings and collaborated with Robert Rauschenberg and others on technologically ambitious projects
Death of New York dealer Brent Sikkema in Brazil being investigated as a homicide
The founder of Chelsea's Sikkema Jenkins & Co was 75 years old
From Phyllida Barlow to Angela Flowers—remembering the artists, collectors, curators and gallerists who died in 2023
The artists Vivan Sundaram and Françoise Gilot, collectors Harald Falckenberg and Barry Humphries plus curator Vincent Honoré were also lost to the art world this year
Artists and curators pay tribute to performance pioneer Pope.L who has died aged 68
The artist, known for his Crawl series, treated 'absurdity of racism in an unflinching way’
Giovanni Anselmo, pioneer of Arte Povera, has died, aged 89
Italian artist, who won Venice’s Golden Lion award in 1990, is subject of a Guggenheim Bilbao retrospective next year
US artist Richard Hunt—creator of more than 160 public works—has died aged 88
The sculptor, who was committed to civil rights, recently completed a monument to Emmett Till
Former US First Lady Rosalynn Carter's portrait goes on view at National Portrait Gallery
The pastel double-portrait of President Jimmy Carter's recently deceased wife was drawn by Robert Clark Templeton
Radcliffe Bailey, an artist who explored the Black American experience across materials and forms, has died, aged 55
Known for toggling between works rooted in painting and more sprawling sculptures and installations, he was always concerned with the histories of objects and materials
UK Pop art pioneer Joe Tilson has died, aged 95
Art world figures pay tribute to "one of the most inventive printmakers"