1972 in art

• 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.kulturarv.dk/1001fortaellinger/en_GB/kunsten-museum-of-modern-art-aalborg/stories|last=Pedersen|first=Simon Ostenfeld|title=KUNSTEN Museum of Modern Art Aalborg|work=1001 stories of Denmark|publisher=Danish Agency for Culture|accessdate=2013-03-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130922081546/http://www.kulturarv.dk/1001fortaellinger/en_GB/kunsten-museum-of-modern-art-aalborg/stories|archive-date=2013-09-22|url-status=dead}}
• 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.{{cite book|title=Louis I. Kahn|last=McCarter|first=Robert|year=2005|publisher=Phaidon Press|location=London|isbn=0-7148-4045-9}}
• date unknown
• BBC Television broadcasts Ways of Seeing, a four-part series by John Berger on art.{{cite book|last=Berger|first=John|year=1972|title=Ways of Seeing|location=London|publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation; Penguin Books|isbn=0-14-021631-6|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/waysofseeing00berg}}
• 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.[https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/may/17/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries The Guardian obituary.]

• Archibald Prize: Clifton Pugh – The Hon E G Whitlam
• John Moores Painting Prize - Euan Uglow{{cite web| url = http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/johnmoores/history/previous-winners-list/euan_uglow.aspx| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151009141337/http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/johnmoores/history/previous-winners-list/euan_uglow.aspx| archive-date = 2015-10-09| title = Euan Uglow - Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool museums}}

{{see also|Category:1972 paintings|Category:1972 sculptures}}

• Francis Bacon – Triptych–August 1972
• Enrico Baj - The Funeral of the Anarchist Pinelli{{Cite web |title=Italy's 'Accidental Deaths' |url=https://tribunemag.co.uk/2019/12/italys-accidental-deaths#:~:text=Baj's%20painting%20The%20Funeral%20of,to%20the%20CoBRA%20art%20movement |access-date=2024-08-20 |website=tribunemag.co.uk |language=en-GB}}

{{Cite web |date=2018-01-22 |title=#_NAME |url=https://videomole.tv/enrico-baj-1972-the-funeral-of-the-anarchist-pinelli-textured-offset-colour-print-75-x-68-cm-edition-200_thumb/ |access-date=2024-08-20 |website=sophia kosmaoglou |language=en-GB}}

• Thomas Hart Benton – Joplin at the Turn of the Century
• Christo and Jeanne Claude – Valley Curtain (along Colorado State Highway 325){{cite web|url=https://www.nga.gov/research/library/imagecollections/features/christo-jeanne-claude/valley-curtain.html|title=Valley Curtain: 1970–1972|publisher=National Gallery of Art|accessdate=2020-10-17}}
• 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)

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

• 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.

• 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 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 31 – Dod Procter, English painter (b. 1890)James, Alison (2007). A Singular Vision: Dod Procter 1890-1972, Sansom & Company Ltd. {{ISBN|1-904537-78-2}}
• 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).

• Gerard Curtis Delano, American painter (b. 1890).
• Ilija Bašičević, Serbian painter (b. 1895){{Cite web |url=http://www.mbasicevic.net/mangelos_biography.html |title=mangelos biography |access-date=2015-03-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141031194736/http://www.mbasicevic.net/mangelos_biography.html |archive-date=2014-10-31 |url-status=dead }}

{{Reflist}}

• 1972 in Fine Arts of the Soviet Union

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Category:Years of the 20th century in art

Category:1970s in art