![Cy Twombly. Artist. (b. 1928). "They were done in Rome, when I had to stay there in August. I was completely crazy, out of my mind with [the] heat." -- speaking to Tate director Nicholas Serota in 2008 about his series "the Ferragosto paintings."](http://nyogalleristny.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/cy-twombly-e1325186528142.jpg?w=300&h=0&crop=1)
Herewith, 12 prominent art world figures who passed away in 2011.
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Thomas N. Armstrong, III. Former director of the Whitney Museum. (b. 1932) “He was brilliant at bringing together coalitions of people to acquire artworks, for which we had a minimal acquisition budget," present Whitney director Adam Weinberg told The New York Times. "We still have works coming in that he negotiated as gifts years ago.”
Photo: Thomas N. Armstrong III in 1985 with a model of the proposed addition to the Whitney museum by Michael Graves. Chester Higgins, Jr./The New York Times.
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Leonora Carrington. Artist. (b. 1917) "Miró once handed her a few coins and told her to run out and buy him a pack of cigarettes," William Grimes wrote in a New York Times obituary. "'I gave it back and said if he wanted cigarettes, he could bloody well get them himself,” she told The Guardian. “I wasn’t daunted by any of them.'"
Photo: Lee Miller, photograph of ELT Mesens, Max Ernst, Leonora Carrington and Paul Eluard, Lamb Creek, Cornwall England, 1937
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John Chamberlain. Artist. (b. 1927). "He draped fabric over some of his large foam works, generously allowing viewers to recline on them." --from GalleristNY.
Photo: John Chamberlain (Patrick McMullan)
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Helen Frankenthaler. Artist. (b. 1928). Reviewing the artist’s 1989 MoMA show in The New York Times, critic John Russell noted that Ms. Frankenthaler’s breakthrough work in the early 1950s was “painted at a time when the future of abstract painting seemed like a sacred trust that was to be carried forward into all eternity.” -- from GalleristNY.
Photo: Helen Frankenthaler at work
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Lucian Freud. Artist. (b. 1922). "In front of Titian's Diana and Actaeon in 2008, he explained: 'When something is really convincing, I don't think about how it was done, I think about the effect on me.'" -- from obituary in The Guardian
Photo: Reflection (Self Portrait), 1985
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Richard Hamilton. (b. 1922). "He also seemed to love ambiguity. Once at an ICA discussion, Duchamp was asked for an opinion ... I've even forgotten the subject, but he stood up and we thought he said "Beware ... French painting", a loaded phrase at the time, perhaps an attack on belle peinture. It was Richard who eventually found out that what he had really said was "Beware – fresh paint." -- from David Hockney's reminiscence in The Guardian.
Photo: Richard Hamilton. From Polaroid Portraits, John Lennon, 1971 image from www.ikon-gallery.co.uk
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M.F. Husain. Artist. (b. 1915). From a 2010 interview on NDTV, India: Barkha Dutt: "Do you not crave in a sense to be home?" MF Husain: "I am already there in spirit and everything. What is this physical presence? In today's world with so much technology and communication you are everywhere and a creative person is not bound by any geography. It is immaterial where you stay. I am an original Indian painter and will remain so till my last breath."
Photo: The artist at work. From thehiberniatimes.com.
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Jeanette Ingberman. Co-founder of New York alternative space Exit Art. (b. 1952). "'We felt that the ideas we were interested in were not happening in the alternative space scene as it was,' Ms. Ingberman said in a 2007 interview, explaining why she and Mr. Colo decided to create their own projects." -- from Gallerist NY.
Photo: Jeanette Ingberman. (Photo: Exit Art)
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Dennis Oppenheim. Artist. (b. 1938). In a 1995 oral history in the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art, Mr. Oppenheim was asked about using his own body as art in 1969-1970: "Emotional psychological drift. The stuff manifesting on video tape film ... was really extraordinarily exciting, and it intoxicated the practitioners with a sense of real immortality. You thought that you could face death with this kind of commitment. The work that came -- as I say -- volatile and dangerous. More dangerous -- the bigger commitment, the great[er] the intoxication, and the better the work. There became a direct correlation it seemed. The work was taking more and more chances, and it was done delicately... It would achieve a higher level of transmission."
Photo: Dennis Oppenheim. Reading Position for Second Degree Sunburn.
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Leo Steinberg. Critic and art historian. (b. 1920) "Anything anybody can do, painting does better…"
Photo: Artnet.com
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George Tooker. Artist. (b. 1920). “Everyone can say, ‘Yes, I’ve been in that faceless situation,’ even if it’s just standing in line waiting to apply for a driver’s license," Thomas H. Garver, author of the monograph "George Tooker" told The New York Times, referring to Mr. Tooker's paintings.
Photo: Self Portrait, 1947.
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Cy Twombly. Artist. (b. 1928). "They were done in Rome, when I had to stay there in August. I was completely crazy, out of my mind with [the] heat." -- speaking to Tate director Nicholas Serota in 2008 about his series "the Ferragosto paintings."
Photo: Cy Twombly in front of his paintings.
![Dennis Oppenheim. Artist. (b. 1938). In a 1995 oral history in the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art, Mr. Oppenheim was asked about using his own body as art in 1969-1970: "Emotional psychological drift. The stuff manifesting on video tape film ... was really extraordinarily exciting, and it intoxicated the practitioners with a sense of real immortality. You thought that you could face death with this kind of commitment. The work that came -- as I say -- volatile and dangerous. More dangerous -- the bigger commitment, the great[er] the intoxication, and the better the work. There became a direct correlation it seemed. The work was taking more and more chances, and it was done delicately... It would achieve a higher level of transmission."](http://nyogalleristny.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/dennis-oppenheim-e1325186464728.jpg?w=360)
![Cy Twombly. Artist. (b. 1928). "They were done in Rome, when I had to stay there in August. I was completely crazy, out of my mind with [the] heat." -- speaking to Tate director Nicholas Serota in 2008 about his series "the Ferragosto paintings."](http://nyogalleristny.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/cy-twombly-e1325186528142.jpg?w=500)
Videoed most all Exit Art’s SoHo openings for many years when SoHo’s art era was peaking — but not at all later in Chelsea. Jeanette & Papo’s Exit Art was up in a vast labyrinthian space on Broadway near Prince a full block through & always had these inventive & exciting shows featuring dozens of very talented artists — often eccentric & lesser known. Things never got better than these fabulous packed openings in SoHo. They were for me simply the most entertaining & wondrous youth oriented art mega events ever where I loved interacting. They had a photographer but I uniquely did the videos on my own & still have the tapes.
Bill Rabinovitch
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rabinart@aol.com