1987 in art

Events from the year 1987 in art.

Events

 * 10 December – Musée d'art moderne (Saint-Étienne) opens as a separate institution.
 * 22 July – Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali is shot in London; he dies 28 August.

Exhibitions

 * November 20 until January 24, 1988 - Ana Mendieta: A Retrospective at the New Museum in New York City.

Awards

 * Archibald Prize – William Robinson, Equestrian self-portrait
 * John Moores Painting Prize - Tim Head for "Cow mutations"
 * Turner Prize – Richard Deacon
 * Shortlisted were: Patrick Caulfield, Helen Chadwick, Richard Long, Declan McGonagle and Thérèse Oulton.

Works

 * Alice Aycock – Three-Fold Manifestation II (sculpture)
 * Wayne Chabre – John von Neumann (gargoyle, Eugene, Oregon)
 * Martin Creed – Work No. 1
 * Rose Finn-Kelcey – Bureau de Change (installation)
 * Anselm Kiefer – Osiris and Isis
 * Ulrich Rückriem – Untitled (granite sculpture, Art Institute of Chicago)
 * Richard Serra – Fulcrum (Cor-Ten steel sculpture, Broadgate, City of London)
 * Andres Serrano – Piss Christ (photograph)
 * Frank Stella – Decanter (sculpture, Houston, Texas)
 * Werner Tübke – Early Bourgeois Revolution in Germany
 * Ernest Zobole – House Interior in Landscape

Births

 * 1 August – CJ de Silva, Filipino art director, painter, graphic designer and illustrator
 * Xyza Cruz Bacani, Filipina street photographer
 * Ibrahim Mahama, Ghanaian installation artist

January to June

 * 14 February – Else Halling, Norwegian tapestry weaver (b. 1899)
 * 18 February – William Coldstream, English realist painter (b. 1908)
 * 22 February – Andy Warhol, American artist, director and writer (b. 1928)
 * 26 March – Georg Muche, German painter (b. 1895)
 * 19 April – Milt Kahl, American animator (b. 1909)
 * 8 June - Alexander Iolas, Egyptian born Greek gallerist and collector (b. 1908)

July to December

 * 30 July – Michel Tapié, French artist, critic, curator and art collector (b. 1909)
 * 29 August – Naji al-Ali, Palestinian cartoonist (b. c.1938)
 * September – Alice Rahon, French-born Mexican painter and poet (b. 1904).
 * 25 September – Harry Holtzman, American artist (b. 1912).
 * 4 October – Kalervo Palsa, Finnish artist (b. 1947).
 * 27 October – Jean Hélion, French painter (b. 1904)
 * 28 October – André Masson, French graphic artist (b. 1896)
 * 4 November – Raphael Soyer Russian-born American painter, (b. 1899).
 * 15 November – Ernő Goldfinger, Hungarian-born architect and furniture designer (b. 1902).
 * 2 December – Robert Filliou, French Fluxus artist (b. 1926)
 * 18 December - Dimitrije Bašičević, Serbian painter and sculptor (b. 1921)

Full date unknown

 * Roland Ansieau, French Art Deco graphic artist (b. 1901).
 * Huang Yao, Chinese artist (b. 1917)
 * Raymond Moore, English landscape photographer (b. 1920).
 * Myron Stout, American abstract painter (b. 1908).