This week, we honor a champion of Chicano art, an Austrian feminist artist, and a painter and Civil Rights luminary.
In Memoriam is published every Wednesday afternoon and honors those we recently lost in the art world.
F. John Sierra (1942–2026)
Muralist, illustrator, educator, and champion of Chicano art
His 1982 “The Planting of Cultures” mural became a cultural landmark in Fresno, California, and he co-founded the Latin America-focused contemporary art center Arte Américas in the city in 1987, serving as its artistic director until 2000. His work has been shown in museums such as the Mexican Museum in Chicago and the Oakland Museum of California, and in 1982, the city of Fresno designated an annual John Sierra Day on July 17.
Valie Export (1940–2026)
Austrian feminist performance and film artist
A “Feminist Actionist,” her playful, powerful, and provocative work undermined patriarchal society through guerrilla gestures that reclaimed and reinterpreted the female body. She co-founded the Austrian Filmmakers Cooperative in 1968 and wrote the landmark “Women’s Art: A Manifesto” in 1972, as well as made feature films, curated exhibitions, taught at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne, and opened the Valie Export Centre in Linz, Austria, to promote performance art research.
Mary Lovelace O’Neal (1942–2026)
Painter and Civil Rights luminary
The painter, educator, and Civil Rights activist’s monumental works moved between abstraction and figuration with gestural marks and explosive energy. She is perhaps best known for her Lampblack paintings, in which she applied loose black pigment in layers onto canvases before punctuating it with a chalkboard eraser, her hands, or white and colored lines.
Noel Galea Bason (1955–2026)
Designer of Malta’s coins and monuments
Perhaps best known for designing Malta’s Lira coins in 1986 and Euro coins in 2007, as well as medals, commemorative pieces, and public monuments, he was a key contributor to the nation’s cultural identity. He has held solo exhibitions in France, Yugoslavia, and his home country, including a retrospective at the Museum of Archaeology in Valletta in 2024.
Jamshid MirFenderesky (1947–2026)
Iranian-Irish Renaissance man
The Iranian-born Renaissance man was an art gallery owner, painter, poet, guitarist, and more, who was based for decades in Belfast, Ireland. Trained in classical guitar and gifted a guitar by the Shah of Iran, MirFenderesky established Fenderesky Gallery in Belfast in 1984, a cultural salon that promoted generations of Irish artists.
Peter Paone (1936–2026)
Legend of Philadelphia’s art scene
His paintings, combining disparate items such as asparagus, cakes, and cats, were inspired by Dutch vanitas works. He was an educator and longtime member of the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Library and Archives Committee, with his works featured in that institution, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Museum of Modern Art, among others.
Remo Salvadori (1947–2026)
Italian sculptor and installation artist
Beginning in the 1970s, he redefined the fields of sculpture, installation, and site-specific art with works that investigate perception through water, metal, and everyday objects. Inspired by Arte Povera as well as conceptual art, spirituality, and geometry, he participated in the Venice Biennale in 1982, 1986, and 1993, and Documenta in Kassel in 1982 and 1992.
