Painter R.B. Kitaj Dies at 74

Farewells
NEW YORK—The influential painter and print artist R.B. Kitaj died on October 21 at home in California at the age of 74, according to Marlborough Gallery, Kitaj’s exclusive New York representation. Born Ronald Brooks Kitaj in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1932, he studied art at Cooper Union in New York, the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, and the Ruskin School of Art in London and lived in London for 40 years before moving to Los Angeles in 1997. Kitaj was a significant contributor to British Pop art, known for his figurative paintings featuring bright colors, collage-like techniques, and allusions to history, philosophy, art, and Jewish identity. His work has been gathered in retrospectives at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., the Tate Gallery, the Metropolitan Museum, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and is held in numerous public collections, including those of the Tate Modern, the British Museum, the Met, Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum Ludwig, the Reina Sofia, the Collection Thyssen-Bornemisza, and the Israel Museum.

NEW YORK—Ileana Sonnabend, one of the "most formidable contemporary art dealers of her time," died Sunday in her sleep after a long illness, the New York Times reports. She was 92. Sonnabend, born Ileana Schapira in Bucharest, Romania, started her career in the 1960s, and she became known for introducing postwar American art to Europe, keeping Americans informed on developments abroad, and amassing a huge art collection that mostly remained in storage. She ran two galleries—Sonnabend Gallery in New York and Galerie Ileana Sonnabend in Paris—which sold works from an illustrious roster of artists including Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, and Jeff Koons and mounted much-talked-about exhibitions for more than 40 years. Her first husband, Leo Castelli, also was a prominent art dealer. When Sonnabend married him at the age of 18, she asked for and received a Matisse instead of an engagement ring.

PAYSON, Ariz.—The sculptor Frances Rich died on October 14 at the age of 97 after suffering a heart attack, the Washington Post reports. Born in Spokane, Wash., Rich spent her early career as a Hollywood actress, appearing in secondary roles in minor screen dramas in the 1930s and later served in the Navy in the WWII women’s division WAVES before becoming a sculptor. One of her best-known artworks is a 10-foot-tall marble statue honoring military nurses that sits in Arlington National Cemetery. Rich also was known for her portraits of friends such as opera singer Lotte Lehmann, birth control activist Margaret Sanger, painter Diego Rivera, composer Virgil Thomson, and actress Katharine Hepburn as well as her sculptures of religious figures.