1996 in art

Events from the year 1996 in art.

Events

 * 8 January – Shortly after publication of the Italian edition of his book The Art Forger's Handbook, English-born art forger Eric Hebborn is found lying in a street in Rome, his skull crushed with a blunt instrument; he dies in hospital on 11 January.
 * 15 March – Arken Museum of Modern Art in Copenhagen, designed by Søren Robert Lund, opens.
 * November – Museum für Gegenwart (contemporary art museum) in former Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, converted by Josef Paul Kleihues, opens.
 * Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow opens.
 * Museum Tinguely in Basel, designed by Mario Botta, opens.
 * For an exhibition at the de Appel Arts Center in Amsterdam, Maurizio Cattelan steals the entire contents of another artist's show from a nearby gallery with the idea of passing it off as his own work, Another Fucking Readymade, until the police insist he return the items on threat of arrest.

Awards

 * Archibald Prize – Wendy Sharpe, Self Portrait as Diana of Erskineville
 * Jan Amos Comenius Medal (UNESCO) – Yaacov Agam, for the "Agam Method" for visual education of young children
 * The Inaugural Hugo Boss Prize – Matthew Barney
 * Turner Prize – Douglas Gordon
 * Wynne Prize – William Robinson, Creation landscape – earth and sea

Exhibitions

 * British Art Show 5 – various venues in Manchester
 * Sol LeWitt Prints: 1970–1995 – travelling exhibition by the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
 * Vermeer – nearly complete exhibition of 25 works, The Hague and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Works

 * Stephen Antonakos – The Room Chapel (mixed media sculpture)
 * George Beasley – Five Points Monument (Atlanta)
 * Robert Calvo – Ascension (sculpture, Portland, Oregon)
 * Maurizio Cattelan – Bidibidobidiboo (sculpture)
 * Angela Conner – Rising Universe (water sculpture)
 * Paul DiPasquale – The Arthur Ashe Monument on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia
 * Raymond Kaskey – Gateway of Dreams (Atlanta)
 * David LaChapelle – "Alexander McQueen and Isabella Blow"
 * Roy Lichtenstein – Brushstrokes (sculpture, Portland, Oregon)
 * Liza Lou – Kitchen (completed)
 * Ron Mueck – Big Baby, Mongrel and Pinocchio (sculptures
 * Alexander Stoddart – Ossian: in memoriam James Macpherson 1736–96 (bronze head)

Films

 * Basquiat

January to June

 * 3 January – Terence Cuneo, English railway and military painter (b. 1907).
 * 6 January – Duane Hanson, American sculptor (b. 1925).
 * 9 January – Félix González-Torres, Cuban artist (b. 1957).
 * 11 January – Eric Hebborn, English-born art forger (b. 1934).
 * 11 February – Pierre Edouard Leopold Verger, French photographer and ethnographer (b. 1902).
 * 18 January – Leonor Fini, Argentine-born surrealist painter (b. 1908).
 * 28 January – Jerry Siegel, American comic book artist (b. 1914).
 * 20 February – Audrey Munson, American actress and artist's model (b. 1891).
 * 5 March – Joshua Compston, British gallerist (b. 1970).
 * 15 March – Helen Chadwick, British artist (b. 1953).
 * 14 April – Mervyn Levy, Welsh-born art critic and artist (b. 1914).
 * 25 April – Saul Bass, American graphic designer and Academy Award-winning filmmaker (b. 1920).
 * 7 May – William Copley, American artist (b. 1919).
 * 10 June – Marie-Louise von Motesiczky, Austrian painter (b. 1906).

July to December

 * 17 July - Rico Puhlmann, German photographer (b. 1934).
 * 28 July – Roger Tory Peterson, American naturalist, ornithologist, artist and educator (b. 1908).
 * 27 August – Abram Games, English poster artist (b. 1914).
 * 24 October – Lin Onus, Scottish-Aboriginal Koori artist (b. 1948).
 * 22 November – Edmund Teske, American photographer (b. 1911).
 * 26 November – Paul Rand, American graphic designer (b. 1914).
 * 29 November – Dan Flavin, American minimalist artist (b. 1933).
 * 3 December – Jean Tabaud, French artist (b. 1914).
 * 11 December – Willie Rushton, English cartoonist, satirist, comedian, actor and performer (b. 1937).
 * 16 December – Quentin Bell, English art historian and author (b. 1910).
 * 25 December – Gabriel Loire, French stained glass artist (b. 1904).