In Memoriam is published every Wednesday afternoon and honors those we recently lost in the art world.
Bill Ivey (1944–2025)
Former head of the National Endowment for the Arts
House Republicans had recently slashed the agency’s budget when he took over in 1998. He distributed grants to states where federal funding was historically scarce, including through the Challenge America program, which supported arts education. “I would argue that advancing our living cultural heritage and nurturing our national creativity constitute a kind of internal defense,” he once said, “in which we preserve our values and strengthen our citizenry.”
Guy Cogeval (1955–2025)
Former president of the Musée d’Orsay
He led the Parisian museum from 2008 to 2017, and also led the National Museum of French Monuments in Paris and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. He was a renowned scholar of the Nabis, a group of French Post-Impressionist painters.
James Stevens Curl (1937–2025)
British architectural historian of death
He was a formidable author and critic, writing prolifically in particular on the architecture and planning of cemeteries. “All my life I have been insatiably curious about the world,” he once wrote, “wanting to know facts, why things were as they were, and how they happened.”
Mark Fisher (1944–2025)
British politician who championed art
He laid the foundation for the Labour Party’s policy on arts and culture, and served as arts minister between 1997 and 1998. If the private sector alone sponsored the arts without public funding, he once said, they would become “increasingly bland.”
Minne Fry (1933–2025)
British abstract artist
The painter first emerged into the London art scene in the 1960s, when she exhibited at New Vision Gallery. Later in life, she exhibited regularly with the National Society of Painters, Sculptors and Printmakers, winning multiple prizes from the London institution.
Kenny Goodman (1945–2025)
Fire Island sculptor and jewelrymaker
He was an institution in the Long Island community, known for his silver jewelry and wooden sculptures. “Fire Island lost one of its elder statesmen over the weekend,” Shoshanna McCollum wrote in a remembrance. “Friend, artist, and legend.”
Marilyn A. Zeitlin (1941–2025)
Museum director and curator
She was the longtime director and chief curator of the Arizona State University Art Museum, as well as the commissioner of the United States pavilion of the 1995 Venice Biennale. She was known for supporting socially engaged art and creative freedom. “She was a powerhouse of energy, ideas, and vision,” director and chief curator of Grand Central Art Center John Spiak wrote in a statement to Hyperallergic. “She was a FORCE!”
