1973 in art

Events

• Alexander Calder is hired by Braniff International Airways to paint a full-size DC-8-62 as a "flying canvas".
• Aristeidis Metallinos begins his career as a sculptor.
• Robert Scull's collection of American Pop and Minimal art is auctioned by Sotheby's in New York City.

  Awards

• Archibald Prize: Janet Dawson – Michael Boddy

  Exhibitions

• Christopher Williams – centenary exhibition in Cardiff, Maesteg and Swansea.

  Works

• Emma Amos - "Sandy and Her Husband"
• Michael Ayrton – Icarus
• Michael Craig-Martin – An Oak Tree
• William Eggleston – The Red Ceiling
• Ben Enwonwu – Tutu
• Gluck – Credo
• Barbara Hepworth – Conversation with Magic Stones
• David Inshaw – The Badminton Game
• Nabil Kanso – Place des Martyres ; Vietnam paintings series
• Frederic Littman – Farewell to Orpheus
• Joan Miró – completes series The navigator's hope
• Henry Moore – Large Four Piece Reclining Figure 1972–73
• Ivor Roberts-Jones – Statue of Winston Churchill, Parliament Square
• Euan Uglow –
• David Wynne
• * Embracing Lovers
• * Girl with a Dolphin

  Births

• January 29 – Louise Hindsgavl, Danish artist
• February 1 – Yuri Landman, Dutch musician, comic book creator and singer
• May 8 – Hiromu Arakawa, Japanese manga artist
• July 7 – Natsuki Takaya, Japanese manga artist
• August 18 – Jerome Lagarrigue, French painter and illustrator

  Full date unknown

• Jean-Pierre Canlis, American glass artist.
• Oisín McGann, Irish author and illustrator.
• Rosalind Nashashibi, English Palestinian film artist.

  Deaths

January to June

• January 17 – Tarsila do Amaral, Brazilian modernist artist.
• March 14 – Chic Young, American cartoonist.
• March 25 – Edward Steichen, American photographer, painter and curator.
• April 8 – Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter, draftsman, and sculptor.
• April 28 – Siri Derkert, Swedish artist, sculptor and political campaigner.
• May 1 – Asger Jorn, Danish artist and essayist.
• May 12 – Edith Tudor Hart, née Suschitzky, Austrian-born photojournalist and communist agent in Britain.
• May 16 – Albert Paris Gütersloh, Austrian painter and writer.
• May 21 – Montague Dawson, English maritime painter.

  July to December

• July 20 – Robert Smithson, American artist
• September 30 – Peter Pitseolak, Inuit photographer, artist and historian
• November 13 – Elsa Schiaparelli, Italian fashion designer
• November 17 – Adolf Wissel, German painter, an official artist of Nazism
• December 7 – Camilo Mori Chilean painter
• December 13 – Ralph Stackpole, American sculptor, painter, muralist, etcher and art educator

  Full date unknown

• Claude Buckle, English poster artist and watercolourist.
• Ronald Ossory Dunlop, Irish author and painter.