1972 In Art

Events from the year 1972 in art.

Events

*March–November – City Sculpture Project in England.
*May 21 – In St. Peter's Basilica (Vatican City), Laszlo Toth attacks Michelangelo's ''Pietà'' statue with a geologist's hammer, shouting that he is Jesus Christ.
*June 8 – KUNSTEN Museum of Modern Art Aalborg, Denmark, designed by Alvar and Elissa Aalto and Jean-Jacques Baruël, is completed.
*September 4 – 1972 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts robbery.
*September 15 – Release in France of Luis Buñuel's surrealist film ''The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie''.
*September 16 – Opening of A.I.R. Gallery at 97 Wooster Street, SoHo, New York, the first artist-run, not-for-profit gallery for women artists in the United States.
* September – Release in the United Kingdom of Ken Russell's biographical film about Gaudier-Brzeska, '' Savage Messiah''.
*October 4 – Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, designed by Louis Kahn, is opened.
*''date unknown''
**BBC Television broadcasts ''Ways of Seeing'', a four-part series by John Berger on art.
**The Bridgeman Art Library is established as a commercial virtual archive of images by Harriet Bridgeman in London.
**Costantino Nivola becomes the first non-American member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
**Friedensreich Hundertwasser publishes his architectural manifesto, ''Your window right – your tree duty''.
**Portmeirion Pottery brings out its best-selling "Botanic Garden" design.
**Oliver Millar becomes the first full-time Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures in the United Kingdom, succeeding Anthony Blunt.

Awards

* Archibald Prize: Clifton Pugh – '' The Hon E G Whitlam''
* John Moores Painting Prize - Euan Uglow

Works

* Francis Bacon – '' Triptych–August 1972''
* Thomas Hart Benton – ''Joplin at the Turn of the Century''
* Christo and Jeanne Claude – ''Valley Curtain'' (along Colorado State Highway 325)
* Bronisław Chromy – ''Wawel Dragon'' (statue, Kraków)
* Marcelle Ferron – Untitled stained glass panel at Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
* Helen Frankenthaler – ''Coral Wedge''
* Barbara Hepworth – ''Minoan Head'' and ''Assembly of Sea Forms''
* David Hockney – ''Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)''
* Elek Imredy – '' Girl in a Wetsuit'' (bronze, Vancouver, British Columbia)
* Joan Jonas – ''Contact II'' (sculpture, Portland, Oregon)
* Natalia LL – ''Consumer Art'' (video series, begins)
* Paul McCarthy – ''Black and White Tapes''
* Clifton Pugh – ''Death of a Wombat''
* John Raimondi – ''David''
* Liberty Bell (Portland, Oregon)
* Mansu Hill Grand Monument (Pyongyang, North Korea)

Births

*January 29 – Brian Wood, American author and illustrator.
*April 6 – Rinko Kawauchi, Japanese photographer.
*April 29 – Roman Dirge, American comic book artist and magician.
*July 2 – Coster Balakasi, Zimbabwean sculptor.
*July 19 – Zanele Muholi, South African visual activist.

Full date unknown

* Andrea Büttner, German-born artists.
* Duncan Campbell, Irish-born video artist.
* Jules de Balincourt, French painter.
* Gilles Tréhin, French artist and author.
* Hema Upadhyay, née Hirani, Indian installation artist and photographer (d. 2015).

Deaths

January to June

*January 19 – Suzanne Malherbe, French illustrator and designer (b. 1892).
*February 19 – Tedd Pierce, American animated cartoon writer, animator and artist (b. 1906).
*March 13 – Tony Ray-Jones, English photographer (b. 1941).
*March 23 – Cristóbal Balenciaga, Spanish fashion designer (b. 1895).
*March 27
**M. C. Escher, Dutch graphic artist (b. 1898).
** Ricco Wassmer, Swiss painter (b. 1915).
*April 26 - Fernando Amorsolo, Filipino painter (b. 1892)

July to December

* July 31 – Dod Procter, English painter (b. 1890)
*October 23 – Clarice Cliff, English ceramic artist (b. 1899)
*October 31 – Beta Vukanović, Serbian painter (b. 1872).
*December 23 – Norman Clyde, American mountaineer, nature photographer and naturalist (b. 1885).
*December 24 – Gisela Richter, English archaeologist and art historian (b. 1882).
*December 29 – Joseph Cornell, American artist and sculptor (b. 1903).

Full date unknown

*Gerard Curtis Delano, American painter (b. 1890).
*Ilija Bašičević, Serbian painter (b. 1895)

References

See also

* 1972 in Fine Arts of the Soviet Union

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Years of the 20th century in art
1970s in art