Jonas Mekas
Experimental filmmaker, New York fixture, and Anthology Film Archives cofounder Jonas Mekas, who was born in Lithuania and came to the United States after World War II, died in January at age 96.
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Nicola L.
Image Credit: COURTESY ARSENAL CONTEMPORARY Feminist artist Nicola L., who was born in Morocco and later lived in Paris and New York, died on December 31, 2018 at age 81. (Pictured: Installation view of “Chère 2018, at Arsenal Contemporary, New York, featuring work by Nicola L.)
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Susan Hiller
Image Credit: © SUSAN HILLER/COURTESY THE ARITST/CARLA BOREL American-born, London-based conceptual artist Susan Hiller died in January at age 78.
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Bisi Silva
Image Credit: JUDE ANGOWIH Bisi Silva, one of Africa’s most notable contemporary art curators, based in Lagos, Nigeria, died at age 57 in February.
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Robert Ryman
Image Credit: ROB GILHOOLY/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK American abstract painter and key postwar artist Robert Ryman died at age 88 in February.
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Jack Burnham
Image Credit: COURTESY MIT PRESS American critic and writer Jack Burnham, who penned essays on contemporary art and technology, died at age 87 in February.
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Okwui Enwezor
Image Credit: JOERG SARBACH/AP/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK Born in Nigeria and based in New York and Munich, the influential contemporary art curator Okwui Enwezor, who organized editions of the Venice Biennale and Documenta, died at age 55 in March.
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Agnès Varda
Image Credit: ADAM BERRY/EPA-EFE/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK French New Wave filmmaker Agnès Varda died at age 90 in March.
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Barbara Hammer
Image Credit: © SUSAN WIDES American artist Barbara Hammer, who was a pioneer of queer experimental film, died at age 79 in March.
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Carolee Schneemann
Image Credit: ANDREA MEROLA/EPA/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK American artist Carolee Schneemann, whose multifarious works helped define the contemporary avant-garde, died at age 79 in March.
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Kevin Roche
Image Credit: COURTESY KEVIN ROCHE JOHN DINKELOO AND ASSOCIATES Pritzker Prize–winning, Dublin-born architect Kevin Roche, whose many projects included an expansion of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, died at age 96 in March.
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John Richardson
Image Credit: LEOPALD JOSEPH/ANL/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK British art historian and Picasso biographer John Richardson died at age 95 in March.
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Antonio Asis
Image Credit: COURTESY SICARDI GALLERY Argentine artist Antonio Asis, who created illusionistic geometric compositions, died at age 87 in March.
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Bill Culbert
Image Credit: JENNIFER FRENCH/COURTESY ROSLYN OXLEY9 GALLERY New Zealand artist Bill Culbert, who made objects glow with fluorescent light, died at age 83 in March.
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Claude Lalanne
Image Credit: COURTESY BEN BROWN FINE ART French sculptor Claude Lalanne, known for the whimsical sculptures and design work that she made with her late husband, François-Xavier, under the name Les Lalanne, died at age 93 in April.
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Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian
Image Credit: COURTESY THE ARTIST AND THE THIRD LINE, DUBAI Iranian artist Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, who created geometric sculptures, paintings, and drawings, died at age 97 in April.
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Henry Wollman Bloch
Image Credit: MARK MCDONALD Henry Wollman Bloch, co-founder of the American tax preparation company H&R Block Inc. and a major supporter of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, died at age 96 in April.
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Benon Lutaaya
Image Credit: COURTESY ROOM GALLERY & PROJECTS Ugandan-born, South Africa–based artist Benon Lutaaya, who created complex portraits in paint, collage, and mixed media, died at age 34 in April. (Work pictured: A dream in tatters, 2017, paper collage on canvas.)
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Jayne Wrightsman
Image Credit: Fairchild Publishing New York-based collector Jayne Wrightsman, who appeared on the ARTnews Top 200 Collectors list from 1990 through 1998 and collected 18th-century French decorative arts, Old Master paintings, and Impressionist works, died at age 99 in April.
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Thomas Nozkowski
Image Credit: COURTESY PACE GALLERY Thomas Nozkowski, an American painter of otherworldly abstractions, died at age 75 in May.
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Lutz Bacher
Image Credit: COURTESY GALERIE BUCHHOLZ/BERLIN/COLOGNE/NEW YORK New York-based artist Lutz Bacher, whose works about violence, memory, and intimacy defy categorization, died at age 75 in May.
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I.M. Pei
Image Credit: M REICHENTHAL/AP/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK I.M. Pei, the famed Chinese-American architect who created designs for the Louvre in Paris and the East Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., died at age 102 in May.
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Tony DeLap
Image Credit: LAURE JOLIET/COURTESY PARRASCH HEIJNEN GALLERY American artist Tony DeLap, who created illusionistic abstract works, died at age 91 in May.
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Camille Billops
Image Credit: © 1991 RUTH WILLIAMSON American documentarian Camille Billops, who addressed complex histories in her work, died at age 85 in June.
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Joe Overstreet
Image Credit: COURTESY ERIC FIRESTONE GALLERY New York-based painter Joe Overstreet, who helped create opportunities for artists of color, died at age 85 in June.
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Joyce Pensato
Image Credit: COURTESY PETZEL GALLERY American painter and cartoonist Joyce Pensato died at age 77 in June.
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Martin Roth
Image Credit: COURTESY LOUIS B. JAMES The Austria-born, New York-based artist Martin Roth, whose work often included living organisms like plants and birds, died at age 41 in June.
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Gloria Vanderbilt
Image Credit: BARRY SUTTON FOR INTROSPECTIVE MAGAZINE/1STDIBS American fashion designer and socialite Gloria Vanderbilt, who also created lyrical artworks, died at age 95 in June.
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Leah Chase
Image Credit: Cheryl Gerber/AP/Shutterstock American collector Leah Chase, who ran the storied New Orleans Creole restaurant Dooky Chase’s and served on the boards of the New Orleans Museum of Art and the Prospect triennial, died at age 96 in June.
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Robert Therrien
Image Credit: MONICA ALMEDIA/THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX; ART: ©ROBERT THERRIEN/ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK Chicago-born artist Robert Therrien, who created perception-bending sculptures of oversized objects, died at age 71 in June.
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David Koloane
Image Credit: COURTESY GOODMAN GALLERY South African artist David Koloane, whose work dealt with colonialism and apartheid, died at age 81 in June.
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Peter Selz
Image Credit: COURTESY BERKELEY ART MUSEUM AND PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE German-born curator and art historian Peter Selz, who helped shape the Berkeley Art Museum in California and the Museum of Modern Art in New York in the mid-20th century, died at age 100 in June.
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Barbara Hunt McLanahan
Image Credit: WILL ELLIS Barbara Hunt McLanahan, who grew up in England and served as executive director of the Children’s Museum of the Arts in New York, died at age 55 in June.
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Karsten Schubert
Image Credit: MIKE DAINES Karsten Schubert, a London dealer and champion of Young British Artists, died at age 57 in July.
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Katharine Mulherin
Image Credit: FACEBOOK Canadian dealer Katharine Mulherin, who maintained multiple galleries in Toronto and New York throughout her career, died at age 54 in July.
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Marisa Merz
Image Credit: COURTESY GLADSTONE GALLERY Italian artist Marisa Merz, who made important contributions to the Arte Povera movement, died at age 93 in July. (Work pictured: Testa (Head), 1984–95.)
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Frieder Burda
Image Credit: ©MUSEUM FRIEDER BURDA German collector Frieder Burda, who made ARTnews’s Top 200 Collectors list each year between 2005 and 2013, died at age 83 in July.
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Leon Kossoff
Image Credit: Walia S.S./Courtesy of L.A. Louver, Venice, California Leon Kossoff, a painter of London, where he was born in 1926, died at age 92 in July.
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Eberhard Havekost
Image Credit: © Robert Michael German painter Eberhard Havekost, who created disquieting works based on photographs and digital images, died at age 51 in July.
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César Pelli
Image Credit: Del Castillo/Fotogramma/I/SIPA/Shutterstock Argentine architect César Pelli, who designed landmark buildings in cities around the world, died at age 92 in July.
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Steve Cannon
Image Credit: ANDREA CAUTHEN/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Steve Cannon, founder of the magazine and New York gallery A Gathering of the Tribes, died at age 84 in July.
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Carlos Cruz-Diez
Image Credit: © 2019 CRUZ-DIEZ ART FOUNDATION Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez, a pioneer of the Kinetic Art and Op Art movements, died at age 95 in July.
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Philip Freelon
Image Credit: AP/Shutterstock American architect Philip Freelon, who led the design team of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, died at age 66 in July.
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Douglas Crimp
Image Credit: KATHERINE MCMAHON/ARTNEWS Influential American art historian Douglas Crimp, whose work encompassed AIDS activism, and postmodernism, and defined the “Pictures” Generation, died at age 74 in July.
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Isabel Toledo
Image Credit: TALAYA CENTENO FOR WWD Cuban-American fashion designer Isabel Toledo, whose clothes have been worn by Michelle Obama and other major figures, died at age 59 in August.
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Stanley Love
Image Credit: © PAULA COURT/COURTESY THE KITCHEN American choreographer Stanley Love, who performed at the New York–based nonprofit the Kitchen throughout his career, died at age 49 in August.
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Wynn Kramarsky
Image Credit: The Kramarsky Family Philanthropist and collector of works on paper Wynn Kramarsky, who was born in the Netherlands and came to the United States in his youth, died at age 93 in August.
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Nancy Kienholz
Image Credit: COURTESY LA LOUVER American artist Nancy Kienholz, who created installations about power, sexism, racism, and violence, died at age 75 in August.
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Kamal Boullata
Image Credit: COURTESY ARAB AMERICAN INSTITUTE Palestinian artist Kamal Boullata, who created abstractions that combined styles from Arabic text and art, died at age 77 in August.
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Barbara Crane
Image Credit: COURTESY STEPHEN DAITER GALLERY, CHICAGO Chicagoan photographer Barbara Crane died at age 91 in August. (Work pictured: Chicago Loop, 1976–78.)
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Takis
Image Credit: © CLAY PERRY AND ENGLAND & CO GALLERY, LONDON Greek artist Takis, whose kinetic artworks focused on energy and magnetism, died at age 93 in August.
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Mary Abbott
Image Credit: COURTESY MCCORMICK GALLERY, CHICAGO American painter Mary Abbott, who made vibrant abstractions in New York during the postwar period, died at age 98 in August.
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Ronald Jones
Image Credit: COURTESY THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART Interdisciplinary American artist Ronald Jones died at age 67 in August.
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David Koch
Image Credit: Clint Spaulding/WWD/Shutterstock American philanthropist and right-wing donor David Koch, who was a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Lincoln Center, died at age 79 in August.
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Robert Frank
Image Credit: KATHY WILLENS/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK Legendary photographer and filmmaker Robert Frank, who was born in Switzerland and captured poignant scenes across the U.S., died at age 94 in September.
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Bruce W. Ferguson
Image Credit: COURTESY OTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN Canadian curator, educator and writer Bruce W. Ferguson, who was the first director of the SITE Santa Fe biennial, died at age 73 in September.
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Huguette Caland
Image Credit: COURTESY GALERIE JANINE RUBEIZ Lebanese artist Huguette Caland, who imagined new ways in which the female body can be represented, died at age 88 in September.
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Norah Stone
Image Credit: © PETER PRATO San Francisco-based collector and philanthropist Norah Stone, who, with her husband, Norman, ranked on the ARTnews Top 200 Collectors list each year since 1995, died at age 81 in September.
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Ed Clark
Image Credit: CHESTER HIGGINS JR/The New York Times The American abstract painter Ed Clark, who pioneered the shaped canvas and painted with a broom, died at age 93 in October.
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Matthew Abbott
Image Credit: COURTESY LORETTA HOWARD GALLERY English abstract painter Matthew Abbott died at age 54 in October. (Work pictured: Somewhere Over the Rainbow, 2010.)
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Hildegard Bachert
Image Credit: SUE COE The German-born dealer Hildegard Bachert, who worked at New York’s Galerie St. Etienne for almost 80 years, died at age 98 in October.
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Mary Margaret ‘Moo’ Anderson
Image Credit: HARRISON TRUONG Bay Area collector Mary Margaret ‘Moo’ Anderson, whose donation helped establish the Anderson Collection at Stanford University, died at age 92 in October.
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Stefan Edlis
Image Credit: SIPA/SHUTTERSTOCK Chicago-based collector Stefan Edlis, who, along with his wife, Gael Neeson, has appeared on the ARTnews Top 200 Collectors list each year since 1993, died at age 94 in October.
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Matthew Wong
Image Credit: Monita Cheng/Courtesy Karma, New York Canadian artist Matthew Wong, who created otherworldly landscape paintings, died at age 35 in October.
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John Giorno
Image Credit: COURTESY SPERONE WESTWATER New York artist John Giorno, whose works are both poetic and deeply political, died at age 82 in October.
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Gillian Jagger
Image Credit: COURTESY OF DAVID LEWIS GALLERY London-born, New York-based sculptor Gillian Jagger, who was known for using natural materials like animal carcasses and tree trunks in her work, died at age 88 in October.
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Deborah Marrow
Image Credit: COURTESY GETTY FOUNDATION Deborah Marrow, a longtime director of the Getty Foundation in Los Angeles, died at age 70 in October.
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Huang Yong Ping
Image Credit: BRUNO BEBERT/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK Chinese artist Huang Yong Ping, whose witty and audacious installations and sculptures address taboo subjects in China and elsewhere, died at age 65 in October.
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Ettore Spalletti
Image Credit: © WERNER J. HANNAPPEL Italian artist Ettore Spalletti, who painted monochromatic works, died at age 79 in October.
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Rina Lazo
Image Credit: Courtesy the artist and National Museum of Mexican Art The Guatemalan muralist and painter Rina Lazo, who worked as an assistant for Diego Rivera and exhibited widely, died at age 96 in November. (Work pictured: Autorretrato (Self-portrait), 1968, oil on canvas.)
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Silvianna Goldsmith
Image Credit: RYAN FOERSTER New York artist, filmmaker, and activist Silvianna Goldsmith, who co-founded the group Women Artists in Revolution in 1969, died at age 90 in November.
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Helen ‘Leni’ Stern
Image Credit: COURTESY STERN FAMILY/VIA SF GATE Helen ‘Leni’ Stern, an artist and patron of the contemporary art scene in Washington, D.C., died at age 89 in November.
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Roger Cardinal
Image Credit: VIA RAW VISION Roger Cardinal, an English writer and art historian known for his scholarship in the field of outsider art, died at age 79 in November.
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Sally Dixon
Image Credit: COURTESY THE WALKER ARCHIVES American curator and arts administrator Sally Dixon, who established the department of film and video at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, died at age 87 in November.
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Stanley Kozak
Image Credit: COURTESY Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston Stanley Kozak, lifelong Bostonian and longtime horticulturist at the city’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, died at age 67 in November.
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Donald Marron
Image Credit: GREGORY PACE/SHUTTERSTOCK New York financier and philanthropist Donald Marron, who served as president of MoMA’s board from 1985 to 1991, died at age 85 in December.
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May Stevens
Image Credit: Joyce Ravid American feminist artist May Stevens, whose work addressed racism, sexism, and the Vietnam War, died at age 95 in December.
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Panamarenko
Image Credit: GEERT VANDEN WIJNGAERT/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK Belgian artist Panamarenko, who was fascinated by the possibilities of flight, died at age 79 in December.
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Stephen Garrett
Image Credit: COURTESY J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM Stephen Garrett, an English architect and the first director of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles and the Getty Villa in Malibu following the passing of J. Paul Getty, died at age 96 in December.
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Woody Vasulka
Image Credit: David Pape/Via Wikimedia Commons Woody Vasulka (at left), a major video artist who cofounded the Kitchen art space in New York, died in 82 in December.