1971 in art

Events

• July 22 – The Lady of Baza Iberian sculpture 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

• Hans Haacke – Real Time Social System
• David Hockney – Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy
• Helen Journeay – Dawn
• Nabil Kanso – Place des Martyres
• Fritz Koenig – Great Spherical Caryatid
• John Raimondi – Cage
• Kaapa Tjampitjinpa – Gulgardi
• Francisco Zúñiga – Mother and Daughter Seated

  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
• 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
• October 27 – Jade Arcade, American composer, musician and comic book 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
• January 11 – I. Rice Pereira, American painter,
• February 7 – Emy Roeder, German sculptor
• April 3 – Jacques Ochs, French artist, Olympic fencing gold medallist
• April 11 – Marcel Gromaire, French painter
• May 31 – Norman Wilkinson, English marine artist
• June 14 – Gerald Dillon, Irish painter
• July 7 – Ub Iwerks, American animator, cartoonist and special effects technician
• July 12 – Kiyoshi Yamashita, Japanese outsider artist
• August 27 – Margaret Bourke-White, American photographer and photojournalist
• October – Charles Walter Simpson, English painter of nature and teacher
• November 9 – Ceri Richards, Welsh painter
• December 6 – Jan Altink, Dutch painter