The Philadelphia Museum of Art owns two Wilmarth sculptures. Homage to Marinot, a glass-and-twine piece, was purchased in 1972 at the annual purchase party of the Friends of the Museum with funds contributed by Dr. Luther Brady. The museum bought Clearing for a Standing Man No. 6 in 1979 with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and funds contributed by private donors.
Mr. Wilmarth's work was included in the exhibition called "The Purist Image" at Marian Locks Gallery in Philadelphia in November 1986. The former Makler Gallery also exhibited his work in several group shows.
He also has pieces in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, the Dallas Museum of Fine Art, the St. Louis Museum and many other institutions.
"It seemed to me he had everything to live for," said Donald McKinney, the director of Herschel and Adler Modern Gallery in New York. "He was 44, but he was in 30 of the great museums of the country and some very important corporate collections."
Mr. Wilmarth began making a reputation in the late 1960s and had his first one-man show in 1968. A gallery showing of his work last year was sold out before the show formally opened, McKinney recalled. Most of Mr. Wilmarth's work was in the $40,000 to $90,000 range, he said.
His early work was in wood, but in recent years he made free-standing and wall-mounted sculptures of etched glass combined with bronze and steel. His most recent work combined blown glass shapes with bronze to create reliefs with a wide range of tone and depth.
He was born in Sonoma, Calif., studied at the Cooper Union school of art in New York and became one of the leading proponents of the Constructivist School, characterized by abstract designs and massive forms.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by his mother and a sister.
