1976 in art

Events

• Completion of the Cubist-influenced Church of the Holy Trinity, Vienna, by Fritz Wotruba.
• Collection de l'art brut established in Lausanne, Switzerland.

  Awards

• Archibald Prize: Brett Whiteley – Self Portrait in the Studio
• John Moores Painting Prize - John Walker for "Juggernaut with plume - for P Neruda"

  Exhibitions

• 25 May – Opening of exhibition of color photography by William Eggleston at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
• 21 July – Opening of P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in Long Island City, New York. The inaugural exhibition Rooms presents in-situ works and installations by around 80 artists from the United States and abroad.

  Works

• Vito Acconci – The Red Tapes
• Judy Baca and 400 community artists – Great Wall of Los Angeles
• Francis Bacon – Triptych
• Pye Engström – Efter badet
• Christo and Jeanne Claude - "Running Fence" in Sonoma County and Marin County, California, United States
• Nabil Kanso – Faust 1976 through 1979
• Bernard Kirschenbaum - Way Four
• R. B. Kitaj – From London
• Henry Moore – Three Piece Reclining Figure Draped
• Susan Rothenberg - Butterfly
• Robert Ryman – Untitled
• Douglas Senft – Awning
• Jamie Wyeth –

  Births

• 4 January – Shiro Amano, Japanese manga artist
• 27 January – Zoriah Miller, American photographer
• 13 February – Martin Sastre, Uruguayan media artist
• 3 April – Carl Hammoud, Swedish painter
• 23 November – Tai Shani, British artist

  Deaths

January to March

• 1 February – Hans Richter, German painter, graphic artist, avant-gardist, film-experimenter and producer
• 2 February – Zlatyu Boyadzhiev, Bulgarian painter
• 12 February – Charles Jourdan, French fashion designer
• 18 February – Wallace Berman, American painter and illustrator
• 23 February – L. S. Lowry, English painter
• February – Kate Lechmere, English painter associated with the Vorticists and milliner
• 3 March – Pierre Molinier, French painter and photographer
• 12 March – Jacques Carlu, French architect and designer
• 22 March – John McLaughlin, American hard-edge painter
• 25 March – Josef Albers, German artist, mathematician and educator
• 31 March – Paul Strand, American photographer and filmmaker

  April to June

• 1 April – Max Ernst, German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet.
• 22 April
• * Stanley Cursiter, Scottish painter and curator.
• * Jeanne Mammen, German painter
• 24 April – Mark Tobey, American abstract expressionist painter
• 11 May – Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect and designer
• 28 May – Steffan Danielsen, Faroese painter
• 24 June – Imogen Cunningham, American photographer
• 27 June – Albert Dubout, French cartoonist, illustrator, painter, and sculptor

  July to December

• 5 July – Frank Bellamy, English comics artist
• 24 July – Afro Basaldella, Italian painter
• 16 September – Cecil Thomas, English bronze sculptor and medallist
• 23 September – Anna Zinkeisen, British artist
• 31 October – Eileen Gray, Irish furniture designer and architect
• 11 November – Alexander Calder, American sculptor and artist
• 18 November – Man Ray, American artist and photographer
• 11 December – Elmyr de Hory, Hungarian-born painter and art forger
• 31 December – Sándor Bortnyik, Hungarian painter and graphic designer

  Full date unknown

• Mariano Andreu, Spanish painter, enamelling master, sculptor and stage designer
• François Ozenda, French painter