RIP - some of the artists who died in 2015

These are some of leading figures in the art world who died this year - plus some leading artists the in the UK art world and a couple I know personally.

I've started at the end of the year and have worked backwards.

Do please say if you think I've left anybody important out by mistake.

December 2015

• Ellsworth Kelly (age 93) an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker - see obituaries and artwork in
• Ellsworth Kelly, Who Shaped Geometries on a Bold Scale, Dies at 92 | New York Times
• Ellsworth Kelly, the American abstract painter and sculptor, dies at 92 | The Guardian
• US artist Ellsworth Kelly dies aged 92 | BBC
• 235 works online at MOMA

News: Images of Ellsworth Kelly and his work remembered on Twitter

• Ray Crooke (age 93), Australian artist, winner of the Archibald Prize in 1969 - see obitauries in
• Archibald Prize winner Ray Crooke dies | Daily Telegraph (Australia)
• Ray Crooke painter of the far north, dies at 93 | The Australian Financial Review
• Artist Ray Crooke dies in Cairns home aged 93 | The Australian 
• Derek Hyatt (age 86) - Yorkshire born and Yorkshire loving landscape painter
• Derek Hyatt, artist - obituary | Telegraph.co.uk
• Derek Hyatt obituary | The Guardian 
• Leslie Waddington (age 81) - Obituaries of this well known London art dealer include:
• Leslie Waddington, art dealer | The Telegraph
• Leslie Waddington: Gallerist whose superb eye and sense of ethics transformed London's art market | The Independent
• Manga fans mourned the death of Shigeru Mizuki (age 93), Japanese manga artist (GeGeGe no Kitarō, Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths, Showa: A History of Japan) died of a heart attack.  See:
• Shigeru Mizuki | The Telegraph
• Shigeru Mizuki's War-Haunted Art and Life | The New Yorker
• Shigeru Mizuki mourned: 'Death of a master' | BBC News

News: Images of Shigeru Mizuki and his work remembered on Twitter

My own personal loss in December was of my friend Robyn Sinclair who is known to many in the online art world.  You can read Robyn Sinclair: An Appreciation

November 2015

• Judy Cassab, (Judit Kaszab AO CBE age 95) - an Austrian-born Australian painter and Holocaust survivor who is the only woman to win two Archibald Prizes (1960, 1967)
• "Two time Archibald Prize winner and Holocaust surviver Judy Cassab dies" | Sydney Morning Herald, 

Privileged to see last wk'nd Archibald Prize '15 finalist: Judy Cassab - by Filippa Buttitta https://t.co/qVtRNEUEbF pic.twitter.com/zhiBwe6D9K

— Benetas (@Benetas) November 9, 2015

October 2015

• Dora Holzhandler (age 87) - A French born Jewish artist came to London from Paris in the early 1930s. Her obituaries in 
• The Guardian - Dora Holzhandler obituary
• The Telegraph - Dora Holzhandler, artist - obituary

September 2015

Where does one start - except to say he will be missed.

• Brian Sewell would have been very pleased with the extraordinary amount of press coverage he got on his death. My blog post about the art critic of the Evening Standard Brian Sewell (1931 – 2015) - he will be missed highlights the obituaries he got in terms of newspaper articles, blog posts and on video as well as recording my memories of Brian.

The late Brian Sewell on top form here - have a look at his works from the brilliant @quartetbooks #art #books https://t.co/5jmJOO7Ugd

— NBN International (@nbnibooks) October 24, 2015

• Nelson Shanks (age 77) - portrait painter who may unfortunately be forever remembered for the comment he made about his portrait of Bill Clinton
• My blog posts about the Clinton portrait - Can a portrait artist play fast and loose with a commission? and Update re: Nelson Shanks portrait of Bill Clinton
• Arts|Nelson Shanks, Who Painted the Prominent, Dies at 77 | New York Times
• Nelson Shanks, artist who painted controversial Clinton portrait, dies at 77 | Washington Post
• Nelson Shanks, renowned portrait artist, dead at 77 | Philly.com
• Nelson Shanks, artist | The Telegraph
• David Michie (age 86) - a Scottish painter and the ex Head of the Drawing and Painting School, subsequently Vice Principal and latterly Honorary Fellow at Edinburgh College of Art.
• 
  
• David Richie 1928 - 2015 - memorial page on the University of Edinburgh website
• Obituary: David Michie, artist and teacher | The Scotsman
• David Michie, artist - obituary | The Telegraph

August 2015

News: Images of Roland Collins and his work remembered on Twitter

• Roland Collins (age 97) - a watercolour painter of landscapes who became hugely popular just three years before his death!
• Roland Collins, artist - obituary | The Telegraph
• Roland Collins obituary | The Guardian
• His galleries Browse and Darby and Michael Parkin Fine Art
• a catalogue of his work from a 2013 exhibition

July 2015

• Raymond Booth (age 85) - a leading botanical and wildlife artist.
• Raymond Booth | The Times Obituaries
• World-renowned Leeds artist dies, aged 85 | Yorkshire Evening post
• a retrospective exhibition of his work

June 2015

News: Images of Alfred Daniels and his paintings of London remembered on Twitter

• Alfred Daniels (age 90) - elected to be a member of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1973 and a member of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1983. His style once seen was never ever forgotten! Alfred's life featured in several posts in Spitalfields Life:
• Alfred Daniels, Artist (Jan 2012) - includes images of his sketches and paintings of the City of London and the East End
• A Return Visit to Alfred Daniels (Fen 2012) - in which you can see his preliminary drawings and sketchbooks
• Happy Birthday Alfred Daniels! (2013) - this relates more of his story about becoming an artist in postwar years
• The Alfred Daniels obituary in The Guardian
• Gwilym Prichard (age 84) - a Welsh painter who portrayed the land, mountains, sea and coastline of Wales. 
• Gwilym Prichard, artist - obituary | The Telegraph
• Gwilym Prichard obituary | The Guardian
• Gwilym Prichard: Painter acclaimed for his depictions of the rocky landscapes of Snowdonia, Brittany and Pembrokeshire | The Independent

May 2015

• William Cooper (age 81) - an Australian artist who was described by Richard Attenborough as  "the country’s “greatest living scientific painter of birds”.
• William Cooper, artist - obituary | The Telegraph
• Bird illustrator William Cooper dies at home in far north Queensland | ABC News - you can watch a video of him with drawings
• William Cooper's life as colourful as his celebrated birds | Canberra Times
• Jean Canter RMS UKCPS PPSGFA (age 72) - was a member of the Royal Society of Miniature Artists, the UK Coloured Pencil Society and was a past Secretary, Vice President and President of the Society of Graphic Fine Art.
• Jean Canter PPSGFA RMS UKCPS – A tribute written by Dr Jo Hall 
• In conversation with SGFA Past President Jean Canter - an interview on the SGFA blog
• Felicity Powell (age 53) - Artist, curator and specialist in the creation of medals 
• Felicity Powell obituary | The Guardian
• Felicity Powell (1961-2015) | The British Art Medal Society
• Rigby Graham (age 84) - a landscape artist 
• Rigby Graham obituary | The Guardian

April 2015

• Jack Knox - a Scottish artist who painted the subjects and in the styles of many other painters over time
• Sargy Mann (age 77) - This was my blog post about the blind British painter Sargy Mann 1937 - 2015 and these were the obituaries I couldn't find at the time:
• Sargy Mann: How a blind painter sees | BBC News
• Sargy Mann, artist - obituary | The Telegraph
• Sargy Mann | The Guardian
• Keith Shackleton MBE, PPSWLA, PPRSMA(age 92) - Wildlife artist and also known to many of us oldies from paintings he did on Animal Magic. At various times he had served as President of the Society of Wildlife Artists and the Royal Society of Marine Artists, as Chairman of the Artists’ League of Great Britain and Vice President of the Society of Wildlife Artists and the Guild of Aviation Artists, and as a Trustee of the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust.

March 2015

• Robert Clatworthy RA (age 87) - a sculptor who taught art in art colleges in London. Between 1971 and 1975, he was the head of the fine art department at the Central School of Art and Design, London
• Alvert Irvin (age 92) - participated in the 'reinvigoration of British painting in the 1980s and 90s'

Eventually finding a wide audience in his 60s, he joked that he was “the oldest up and coming young artist in Britain”.

February 2015

• Sheila Girling, a modernist painter who was wife of Anthony Caro, died in February. See Sheila Girling obituary

January 2015

• The shock in January was the killing of the cartoonists 9and journalists) in the Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris. The five cartoonists killed were:
• Cabu (age 76), cartoonist
• Charb (age 47) caricaturist and journalist
• Philippe Honoré (age 73) cartoonist
• Tignous (age 57) cartoonist
• Georges Wolinski (age 80) cartoonist
• An English cartoonist Martin Honeysett (age 71) died in January in the UK.
• Frances Lennon, MBE (age 102) was an award winning Mancunian artist whose work was collected by Winston Churchill. She was also the official artist for the Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
• Edward Hardy "Ted" Harrison, CM (age 88) was an English-Canadian artist noted for his paintings of the Yukon.

2015, the year they have killed Cabu ... #JeSuisCabu Les cons, ils ont tués #Cabu pic.twitter.com/tVUTUgyy8r

— François Piednoël (@FPiednoel) December 22, 2015

Other Lives

I came to the end of 2015 thinking it was going to be a year I forever associated with deaths - lots of them. It's so very odd to have a year which you are really glad when it is over.

One final note. If you know an artist who has died and you'd like to record their passing you can do this using The Guardian's "Other lives" section. Thank goodness they recognise that the so-called 'great and good' are not the only people worth a mention!