Obituaries - Brief Article - Obituary

Spanish sculptor Juan Munoz died of a heart attack on Aug. 28, as this issue went to press. He was 48. His traveling retrospective debuts Oct. 18 at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. A complete obituary will appear in our November issue.

Italo Scanga, 69, sculptor, painter and teacher, died July 27 of a heart attack while working in his studio in Pacific Beach, Calif. The Italian-born artist was known for his exuberant, inventive assemblages that combined found objects, such as musical instruments or salvaged trinkets, with natural materials like branches and seashells. Certain of his works, such as a series of polychromed sculpted-wood heads, reveal a Cubist influence. He also produced paintings, prints, and ceramic and glass objects. Scanga had solo shows at the Whitney Museum in New York, the L.A. County Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Museo Rufino Tamayo in Mexico City. Since 1976 he was a professor of visual arts at the University of California at San Diego. Starting in 1978 he became a frequent artist-in-residence at the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Wash., where he often collaborated with glass sculptor Dale Chihuly, a close friend.

Grace Borgenicht Brandt, 86, leading New York art dealer, known for introducing to the public a number of important European and American modernists, died July 19 in her Manhattan home. Born in New York City, Borgenicht began her career as an artist; she studied art at Columbia University and later in Paris, and had a solo show of paintings at New York's Laurel Gallery in 1947. However, she was soon persuaded by artist friends to establish her own contemporary art venue. The Grace Borgenicht Gallery opened on 57th Street in 1951. Early on, she represented major figures such as Milton Avery and Max Beckmann, as well as Reuben Kadish, Wolf Kahn and Jimmy Ernst. In the 1980s, she introduced newcomers Mark Tansey, Mark Innerst, James Romberger and Jane Rosen, among others. She married painter Will Brandt in 1960. The gallery remained a key midtown venue until she retired in 1995 and closed the space.

Pierre Klossowski, 96, artist and writer, died Aug. 12 in Paris. He was the older brother of the painter Balthus, who died in February [see "Artworld," Apr. '01]. Klossowski, who was associated with the Surrealists, was known for erotically tinged writings and drawings that explore metaphysical and religious themes. Among his publications are Sade My Neighbor, a book about the Marquis de Sade, and Roberte Ce Soir, a novel that featured some of his drawings.

Martin Stern, Jr., 84, architect, died July 28 in Los Angeles. In the '50s, he designed three Ships coffee shops in LA., in a futuristic style that combined neon, modern design and eye-catching signage. The shops were destroyed in the '80s and '90s, despite protests from preservationists. In Las Vegas, Stern designed the Sahara Hotel and convention center (1959/1967, with an addition in '77) and the MGM Grand (1973, now Bally's). His buildings were described as "wonderfully funky" by fellow architect Steven Izenour [see below].

Steven Izenour, 61, author and architect who was a partner in the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, died of a heart attack on Aug. 21 while on vacation in Vermont. An advocate of American vernacular architecture, Izenour coauthored, along with Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, the influential 1972 book Learning from Las Vegas. A Philadelphia resident, Izenour most recently designed a new children's garden for Camden, N.J.

Eleanor Sayre, 85, curator and print expert, died May 12 in Cambridge, Mass. She was one of the first female curators at the, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where she served from 1945 until her retirement in '84. As curator emeritus, she continued to work on a manuscript about Goya's "Los Caprichos."

[Extended obituaries for David Sylvester and Sidney Tillim appear in the "Front Page" section, pp. 35 and 37 respectively.]

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