Obituaries
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
Bonhams executive Alex Fortescue has died aged 55
His death was confirmed by Epiris, the private equity firm that owns the auction house
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
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
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
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
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"
Remembering Park Seo-Bo, the ‘Father of Korean Contemporary Art’
A leading figure in the Dansaekhwa movement, he had a profound influence on the teaching of painting and the administration of art studies
Juanita McNeely, feminist artist who created visceral paintings inspired by personal hardship, has died, aged 87
A survivor of cancer and an illegal abortion, McNeely channelled her experiences into very personal work
Ida Applebroog, who made wide-ranging work with a feminist edge, has died, aged 93
The American artist was long associated with the feminist art movement but resented the label, preferring to form her own critical iconography
Park Seo-Bo, one of South Korea's leading artists, has died aged 91
The father of the Dansaekhwa movement was known for monochrome works with roots in Buddhist philosophy
Fernando Botero, the Colombian artist beloved for his rotund figures, has died, aged 91
Botero re-imagined art historical motifs but also responded to current events, including a series of visceral paintings in response to the Abu Ghraib torture scandal
Claude Ruiz Picasso, the artist’s son and manager of the Picasso estate, has died
The management of one of the world's most valuable art collections has now been passed to Paloma Ruiz Picasso, the last of Pablo Picasso's four children
Remembering Jamie Reid, a protest artist to the end and the man behind the shocking visual impact of the Sex Pistols
The artist's gallerist recalls a visionary who built creative communities in London and Liverpool and had a profound effect on British popular culture
Angela Flowers, dealer at the heart of British art for 50 years, has died aged 90
Flowers built a global empire from Hong Kong to Hackney and always championed artists
Remembering Françoise Gilot, who showed that being a muse of Pablo Picasso did not preclude being a great artist herself
The French painter and memoirist, who worked in Paris, London and the United States, showed elegance and ferocity in her work and a remarkable versatility as a colourist