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Obituaries
May. 6th, 2026 06:36 pmHave I written before about the guilty pleasure of obituaries? I don't want to treat anyone's death as a good thing, but sometimes an obituary for someone I had never heard of makes me less sad that they have died, more glad to know that they lived in the first place.
Last Saturday's Guardian carried an obituary for sculptor Lloyd le Blanc (Why the delay between online and print, I don't know. It's just one of the Guardian's little foibles.). I admit, it was the giant bronze artichokes that caught my eye (another reason to dream of visiting Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons), but I also admired Le Blanc's career path: with a fine arts degree from Yale, followed by a stint as a welder on North Sea oil rigs, what else would you do but set up a foundry?
More pictures on the Le Blanc Fine Art website.
My newspaper of choice lets me down when I try to quote the counter-example of Nicole Hollander: I am a long-time admirer (my 1991 diary was 'The Sylvia book of days') and I was sorry to hear of her death. But it's possible, I suppose, that someone may read this who has not already encountered Sylvia, in which case the information might be a source of happiness. Since the Guardian is silent on the topic, here's The Chicago Sun-Times. And - not an obituary, but a reference work - Lambiek Comiclopedia is generous with examples of her work.
Last Saturday's Guardian carried an obituary for sculptor Lloyd le Blanc (Why the delay between online and print, I don't know. It's just one of the Guardian's little foibles.). I admit, it was the giant bronze artichokes that caught my eye (another reason to dream of visiting Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons), but I also admired Le Blanc's career path: with a fine arts degree from Yale, followed by a stint as a welder on North Sea oil rigs, what else would you do but set up a foundry?
More pictures on the Le Blanc Fine Art website.
My newspaper of choice lets me down when I try to quote the counter-example of Nicole Hollander: I am a long-time admirer (my 1991 diary was 'The Sylvia book of days') and I was sorry to hear of her death. But it's possible, I suppose, that someone may read this who has not already encountered Sylvia, in which case the information might be a source of happiness. Since the Guardian is silent on the topic, here's The Chicago Sun-Times. And - not an obituary, but a reference work - Lambiek Comiclopedia is generous with examples of her work.
