1971 in art

Events from the year 1971 in art.

Events

 * July 22 – The Lady of Baza Iberian sculpture (4th century BCE) is discovered.
 * October 24 – English painter Francis Bacon's lover, George Dyer, commits suicide two days before the opening of the artist's retrospective at Paris's Grand Palais; Bacon will paint The Black Triptychs in his memory.
 * Construction of the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris begins.
 * New Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes, opens.

Awards

 * Archibald Prize: Clifton Pugh – Sir John McEwen

Works

 * Chris Burden - Shoot
 * Abram Games – Stockwell tile motif on London Underground's Victoria line
 * Hans Haacke – Real Time Social System
 * David Hockney
 * Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy
 * Portrait of Sir David Webster
 * Helen Journeay – Dawn (sculpture, Houston, Texas)
 * Nabil Kanso – Place des Martyres (paintings) (1971 through 1974)
 * Fritz Koenig – Great Spherical Caryatid ("The Sphere", for World Trade Center, New York City)
 * John Raimondi – Cage
 * Lucas Samaras - Stiff Box 12
 * Peter Sedgely – Pimlico tile motif on London Underground's Victoria line
 * George Smith – Vauxhall tile motif on London Underground's Victoria line
 * Kaapa Tjampitjinpa – Gulgardi
 * Hans Unger – Brixton tile motif on London Underground's Victoria line
 * Francisco Zúñiga – Mother and Daughter Seated (bronze, San Diego)

Exhibitions

 * August 22 until September 29 - The De Luxe Show curated by Peter Bradley at the De Luxe movie theater in Houston, Texas sponsored by the Menil Foundation.

Births

 * January 4 – Junichi Kakizaki, Japanese floral artist and sculptor
 * May 9 – Nicolas Ghesquière, French fashion designer
 * June 1 – Miguel Calderón, Mexican visual artist and performer
 * June 13 - Joshua Davis, American visual artist and designer
 * September 2 – Arnold Arre, Filipino comic book writer and artist
 * September 7 – Sirpa Masalin, Finnish sculptor
 * September 13 – Stella McCartney, English fashion designer
 * October 1 – Stéphane Breitwieser, French art thief
 * October 3 – Oliver Briceño, Venezuelan oboist
 * October 4 – Jeremy Blake, American digital artist and painter (died 2007)
 * October 16 – Mirko Reisser (DAIM), German graffiti-artist
 * October 27 – Jade Arcade, American composer, musician, and comic book artist
 * December 6 – Helena Bulaja, Croatian multimedia artist
 * date unknown
 * Ahmed Al Safi, Iraqi sculptor
 * Amanda Coogan, Irish performance artist
 * Bernhard Gál, Austrian composer and artist

Deaths

 * January 10 – Coco Chanel, French fashion designer (born 1883)
 * January 11 – I. Rice Pereira, American painter, (born 1902)
 * February 1 – Raoul Hausmann, Austrian artist and writer (born 1886)
 * February 7 – Emy Roeder, German sculptor (born 1890)
 * April 1 – Ramiro Arrue, Basque painter, illustrator, and ceramist (born 1892)
 * April 3 – Jacques Ochs, French artist, Olympic fencing gold medallist (born 1883)
 * April 11 – Marcel Gromaire, French painter (born 1892)
 * May 31 – Norman Wilkinson, English marine artist (born 1878)
 * June 14 – Gerald Dillon, Irish painter (born 1916)
 * July 7 – Ub Iwerks, American animator, cartoonist and special effects technician (born 1901)
 * July 10 – George Kenner, German artist (born 1888)
 * July 12 – Kiyoshi Yamashita, Japanese outsider artist (born 1922)
 * August 27 – Margaret Bourke-White, American photographer and photojournalist (born 1904)
 * October – Charles Walter Simpson, English painter of nature and teacher (born 1885)
 * November 9 – Ceri Richards, Welsh painter (born 1903)
 * December 6 – Jan Altink, Dutch painter (born 1885)