In Memoriam This week, we honor a surrealist and zoologist, a monochrome abstractionist, and a pillar of Oakland’s Chinatown.

April 22, 2026 — 6 min read

Desmond Morris on October 15, 1990, in Paris (photo by Ulf Andersen/Getty Images)

In Memoriam is published every Wednesday afternoon and honors those we recently lost in the art world.

Desmond Morris (1928–2026)

British zoologist, television presenter, and artist

Among the nearly 50 books, as many articles, and the many TV episodes he presented , his book The Naked Ape (1967) stood out as groundbreaking and influential (and controversial) for framing modern humans as fundamentally ape-like.…