As a difficult year draws to a close, we’re taking a moment to look back on those we lost in the art world in 2020.
The list below is arranged according to the date the obituary was published. Links in italics take you to other news outlets; the others take you to Artnet News coverage.
January
John Baldessari in a still from “A Brief History of John Baldessari.”
Friends and Former Students Remember the Late John Baldessari as an Artist Who ‘Always Knew What He Was Doing’
Hester Diamond, collector
Jason Polan, artist
Ferdinand Neess, collector
Santu Mofokeng, photographer
February
Beverly Pepper working in Spoleto, Italy (1962). Photo ©Beverly Pepper, courtesy of Marlborough Contemporary, New York and London.
Artist Beverly Pepper, Who Long Rejected Critics’ Attempts to Define Her Brawny Sculptures, Has Died at 97
Emily Mason, artist
Kevin Consey, museum director
Anne Marion, philanthropist
James Brown, artist
Jack Youngerman, artist
Bartholomew Beal, artist
Liu Shouxiang, artist
Virginia Wright, collector and philanthropist
Joanna Frueh, artist and art historian
James Brown, artist and publisher; and Alexandra Condon, publisher
March
Ulay by Primož Korošec.
Ulay, the Performance Art Pioneer and Fabled Former Partner of Marina Abramović, Has Died at Age 76
Genesis P-Orridge, Known for the Band Throbbing Gristle and Art That Transcended Gender, Has Died
Prominent New York Gallerist Paul Kasmin, Who Helped Elevate Chelsea Into an Art Hub, Has Died at Age 60
Art Critic and Curator Maurice Berger, Whose Prescient Work Addressed Representations of Race, Has Died at Age 63
Renato Danese, dealer
William Burke, dealer and collector
Félix Marcilhac, collector
James Powers, dealer
Irwin Kremen, psychologist and artist
J. Seward Johnson Jr., artist
Nelson Leirner, artist
Alan Turner, artist
Henry Cobb, architect
Peter Dreher, artist
Suellen Rocca, artist
Merry Norris, philanthropist
Vittorio Gregotti, architect
Michael Sorkin, critic
Tomie dePaola, author and illustrator
April
Germano Celant. Photo by Pietro D’Aprano/Getty Images for Prada.
Germano Celant, the Towering Italian Art Critic Who Gave the World Arte Povera, Has Died at Age 79
Zarina, the Indian Artist Who Chronicled Her Peripatetic Lifestyle in Delicate Prints, Has Died at 83
Renowned Wildlife Photographer and Bon Vivant Peter Beard Has Been Found Dead at Age 82, Three Weeks After Disappearing in Montauk
John Driscoll, a Scholar of American Art Who Led New York’s Eminent Driscoll Babcock Gallery, Has Died at 70
Anne Bass, the Philanthropist and Art Collector Who Captivated New York’s High Society, Has Died at 79
David Driskell, the Celebrated Painter and Scholar Who Championed the Long History of Black Art in America, Has Died at 88
American Pop Artist Idelle Weber, Known for Her Striking Depictions of Corporate Banality, Has Died at Age 88
Glenna Goodacre, artist
John Pfahl, artist
Tina Girouard, artist
Lois Weinberger, artist
William Bailey, artist
Markus Raetz, artist
Ian Wilson, artist
Paul J. Smith, museum director
Patrick Shaw Cable, curator
Carleton Wing, artist
Helene Aylon, artist
Namio Harukawa, artist
Tom Blackwell, artist
Rifat Chadirji, architect
Gillian Wise, artist
Fernando Miteff, artist
Norman Gulamerian, artist
Ann Sullivan, animator
David Toren, lawyer
Pellom McDaniels, curator
David Leverett, artist
Ronald Lewis, museum founder
Michael McKinnell, architect
Juan Gimenez, illustrator
Yves Corbassière, artist
William H. Gerdts, art historian
Mort Drucker, comics artist
May
Christo and Jeanne-Claude at their studio at 48 Howard Street in New York. Photo Wolfgang Volz. © The Estate of Christo V. Javacheff.
Christo, Who Transformed Landscapes Around the Globe With Monumental Public Artworks That Delighted Millions, Has Died at 84
Richard Anuszkiewicz, an Op-Art Pioneer Who Pushed Geometric Abstraction to Illusory Ends, Has Died at 89
Artist Susan Rothenberg, Who Painted Free-Roaming Horses in Defiance of Her Era’s Prohibition on Figurative Art, Has Died at 75
Alan Shestack, museum director
Rafael Leonardo Black, artist
Astrid Kirchherr, photographer
Motoko Fujishiro Huthwaite, scholar
Juan Genovés, artist
Abraham Palatnik, artist
Jaquelin Taylor Robertson, architect
Thomas Sokolowski, museum director
Li Hui, artist
Elsa Dorfman, photographer
Peter Alexander, artist
Richard Anuszkiewicz, artist
Emma Amos, artist
Nanda Vigo, architect
June
Graphic designer Milton Glaser in his studio in New York City. Photo by Neville Elder/Corbis via Getty Images.
Legendary Graphic Designer Milton Glaser, Who Created the ‘I Love New York’ Logo During a Fateful Cab Ride, Has Died at 91
Carl Solway, art dealer
Ronald Ollie, collector
Ronald Tackmann, artist
Luther Price, artist
Cynthia Navaretta, publisher
Manuel Felguérez, artist
July
Rebeccah Blum in Wilmington, Delaware, in 2015. Courtesy Jane Rosenzweig.
‘I Want Her Name to Be Remembered’: The Art World Reflects on the Life and Death of Curator Rebeccah Blum
Sculptor Keith Sonnier, America’s Experimental Poet of Light and Neon, Has Died at Age 78
Jyotsna Bhatt, artist, 80
Paul Fusco, photographer
Frank Popper, scholar
Delphine Lévy, museum director
Jane Walentas, philanthropist
Brigid Berlin, artist
Lotty Rosenfeld, artist
Enrico Navarra, collector
Roger Whiteside, photographer
Richard di Liberto, photographer
August
Siah Armajani at the Met Breuer press preview of “Siah Armajani: Follow This Line.” Photo of courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Iranian-American Artist Siah Armajani, Who Reimagined Public Spaces in Cities Around the World, Has Died at 81
American Artist Ron Gorchov, Who Rejected Trends to Forge His Own Path Through Painting, Has Died at 90
Art Collector William Arnett, Champion of Thornton Dial, the Gee’s Bend Quilters, and Other Outsider Artists, Has Died at 81
‘Her Legacy Has Only Just Begun’: Luchita Hurtado, the Protean Artist Who Gained Renown in Her Final Decade, Has Died at 99
Gilda Cordero-Fernando, artist and designer
Frank Dunphy, dealermaker
Gerald D. Hines, philanthropist
Heinz Frank, artist
Suzanne Perelman, artist
Douglas Latchford, scholar and dealer
September
Vassilis Dimitriou creating one of his hand-painted movie poster billboards for the Athinaion cinema in Athens. Photo courtesy of the Athinaion.
Vasilis Dimitriou, the Artist Who Carried on the Lost Art of Hand-Painted Movie Billboards, Has Died at 84
Photorealist Painter Robert Bechtle, Who Captured the Bay Area in Painstakingly Faithful Detail, Has Died at 88
Nancy Dine, a Filmmaker Who Redefined the Role of the ‘Artist’s Wife,’ Has Died at 83
Kate Daw, painter and curator
Varujan Boghosian, artist
Franco Maria Ricci, publisher
Myra F. Levick, art therapist
Terence Conran, designer
October
Sindika Dokolo.
Billionaire Congolese Art Collector Sindika Dokolo, Who Championed the Restitution of African Art, Has Died at Age 48
The Art World Remembers Matthew Wong, Self-Taught Painter of Vibrant Landscapes, Who Has Died at 35
Linda Givon, dealer
John Coles, archaeologist
Marianne Wex, artist
Frederick Weston, artist
Chris Killip, photographer
Alan Rath, artist
Mohamed Melehi, artist
Tenzo Takada, artist and designer
Lindy Dufferin, artist
November
Daniel Cordier. Photo: Jean-Luc PETIT/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.
Daniel Cordier, the Revered French Resistance Fighter Who Went on to a Successful Career as an Art Dealer, Dies at 100
A 24-Year-Old German Art Student Was Among the Four Victims Killed in Vienna’s Recent Terror Attack
Peter Joseph, artist
Sheldon Solow, collector
Herman Daled, collector
Tamara “Hyuro” Djurovic, artist
Ruth DeYoung Kohler II, museum director
Roger Mandle, museum director
Ian Dennis Jenkins, curator
James T. Demetrion, museum director
Suh Se Ok, artist
Irina Antonova, museum director
Aldo Tambellini, filmmaker
Francesco Polenghi, artist
Gordon Baldwin, artist
December
Barbara Rose in the 2018 film The Price of Everything. Photo courtesy of HBO.
Art Critic Barbara Rose, a Champion of Minimalism Whose Writings Crystallized Decades of Creativity, Has Died at 84
Sven Sachsalber, an Inventive and Wily Italian Artist Who Was on the Rise in New York’s Art Scene, Has Died at 33
John Outterbridge, the Pioneering Assemblage Artist and Los Angeles Community Activist, Has Died at 87
Jackie Saccoccio, artist
Amy Lipton, curator
David Medalla, artist
Pierre Cardin, designer
Roland Reiss, artist
Grace Knowlton, artist
Jack Lenor Larson, textile designer and sculpture garden founder
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