1985 in art

Events from the year 1985 in art.

Events

 * Charles Saatchi's collection opens to the public, arousing interest in Neo-expressionism.


 * Germano Celant publishes Arte Povekira: Storie e protagonisti.
 * Art gallerist Andrew Crispo and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum are involved in a dispute over Constantin Brâncuși's 1912 sculpture "The Muse" which ends in the museum paying $2 million US for the artwork, at the time believed to be the most ever paid for a 20th century sculpture.

Awards

 * Archibald Prize: Guy Warren – Flugelman with Wingman
 * John Moores Painting Prize - Bruce McLean for "Oriental Garden Kyoto
 * Turner Prize – Howard Hodgkin
 * Shortlisted were: Terry Atkinson, Tony Cragg, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Milena Kalinovska and John Walker.

Works

 * Mai Dantsig – And the Saved World Remembers
 * Robyn Denny – Coloured lines at Embankment tube station in London, England
 * Christo and Jeanne Claude - "The Pont Neuf Wrapped" at the Pont Neuf in Paris, France
 * Thomas Morandi – Yankee Champion (sculpture, Portland, Oregon)
 * Odd Nerdrum – The Cloud (Skyen)
 * George Rickey – Double L Excentric Gyratory (sculpture)
 * Sally Robinson (Australian) – Kakadu (screen print)
 * Wayne Thiebaud – Sunset Streets
 * Andy Warhol – Reigning Queens series

Births

 * September 24 – Eric Adjetey Anang, Ghanaian sculptor
 * date unknown
 * Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Jordanian-born artist
 * Helen Marten, English sculptor and installation artist

Deaths

 * 8 January – Grace Morley, American-born curator (b. 1900)
 * 18 January – Anwar Shemza, Pakistan-born British artist and writer (b. 1928)
 * 7 March – Jessie Oonark, Canadian Inuit artist (b. 1906)
 * 28 March – Marc Chagall, Russian-Belarusian-French painter (b. 1887).
 * 21 April – Rudi Gernreich, Austrian American fashion designer (b. 1922).
 * 11 May – Chester Gould, American cartoonist (b. 1900).
 * 12 May – Jean Dubuffet, French painter and sculptor (b. 1901).
 * 22 May – Wolfgang Reitherman, German-American animator (b. 1909).
 * 26 July – Grace Albee, American printmaker (b. 1890).
 * 21 August – David Olère, Polish-born Jewish French painter (b. 1902).
 * 8 September – Ana Mendieta, Cuban American performance artist, sculptor, painter and video artist
 * 28 September – André Kertész, Hungarian-born photographer (b. 1894).
 * 17 November – Richard Amsel, American illustrator and graphic designer (b. 1947).
 * 8 December – Paul Kelpe, German-born American painter (b. 1902).
 * Ovartaci, Danish outsider artist (b. 1894)
 * Antonio Rodríguez Luna, Spanish painter (b. 1910).