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
 * Enrico Baj - The Funeral of the Anarchist Pinelli
 * 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 – Vertical Roll
 * Alexander Liberman – 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)

Music

 * Don McLean - Vincent - a tribute to Vincent van Gogh

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).

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)