1970 in art

Events

• January 16 – John Lennon's exhibition of Bag One at the London Arts Gallery is shut down by Scotland Yard for displaying "erotic lithographs".
• March 2–29 - Melvin Edwards: Works, a solo exhibition by American artist Melvin Edwards at New York's Whitney Museum, the first solo show by an African-American sculptor in the museum's history.
• October - In celebration of her large gift of art works to the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco from the collection assembled by her late husband Thomas Edward Hanley, Tullah Hanley throws an epic party with rock bands, nude participants, exotic dancers, live animals and various other musical acts.
• October 26 – Garry Trudeau's comic strip Doonesbury debuts in approximately two dozen newspapers in the United States.
• November 27 – Bolivian artist Benjamin Mendoza tries to assassinate Pope Paul VI during his visit to Manila.
• Tom Keating admits that a number of watercolours in the style of Samuel Palmer were painted by him.
• Sammlung zeitgenössischer Kunst der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, the Federal collection of contemporary art, is established in Germany.
• Contemporary Art Museum of Macedonia in Skopje, designed by the "Warsaw Tigers", is built.Conceptual Art and Conceptual Aspects, the first dedicated conceptual art exhibition, is mounted at the New York Cultural Center.
• Theodor W. Adorno's book Aesthetic Theory is published posthumously in Germany.

Exhibitions

• February 10 until March 29 - 22 Realists at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.

Awards

• Archibald Prize: Eric Smith – Gruzman – Architect
• Prix Puvis de Chavannes – Daniel du Janerand

Works

• Gilbert and George – The Singing Sculpture
• Barbara Hepworth – Family of Man
• Alvin D. Loving Jr. – Cube 27
• Brice Marden - For Pearl
• Henry Moore – Reclining Figure LH608
• Kanda Nissho – Indoor Landscape
• Isamu Noguchi – Night Wind
• Victor Pasmore – Apollo Pavilion
• William Scott – Still Life With Orange Note
• Aaron Shikler – Official portrait of President John F. Kennedy
• Robert Smithson – Spiral Jetty
• Wayne Thiebaud - ''Pop Bottles''

Births

• January 17 – Genndy Tartakovsky, Russian-born American animator
• January 22 – Alex Ross, American comic book painter and illustrator
• January 24 – Maria Balshaw, English curator
• February 10 – Peter Richards, British artist and curator
• February 15 – Shepard Fairey, American artist, graphic designer and illustrator
• February 27 – Matthias Lechner, German set designer and art director
• March 12 – Marine Delterme, French actress, painter, sculptor and model
• May 3 – Jeffrey Sebelia, American fashion designer
• May 9 – Damian Loeb, American painter
• May 26 – Nobuhiro Watsuki, Japanese manga artist
• June 1 – Joshua Compston, British gallerist
• July 6 – Grant Bond, American comic book artist and writer
• July 9 – Benoit Pierre Emery, French art director and fashion designer
• August 4 – Pete Abrams, American webcomic writer and illustrator
• August 23 – Ben Eine, né Flynn, English street artist
• November 22 – Aleksander Balos, Polish-born American artist and figurative painterdate unknown
• * Helen Cammock, English artist
• * Stéphane Ducret, Swiss contemporary artist
• * Emily Jacir, Palestinian artist
• * Tomoki Kyoda, Japanese animation director and animator
• * Vincent Paronnaud, French comics artist and filmmaker
• * David Quinn, Irish artist
• * Bosco Sodi, Mexican-born abstract painter

Deaths

• January 27
• * Rita Angus, New Zealand painter
• * Erich Heckel, German painter and printmaker
• February 25 – Mark Rothko, Latvian-born American painter and printmaker
• February 26 – Ángel María de Rosa, Argentine sculptor and philanthropist
• March 2 – Marc-Aurèle Fortin, Canadian painter
• March 8
• * Waldo Peirce, American painter
• * Anton Räderscheidt, German painter
• March 22 – Georges Malkine, French Surrealist painter
• April 20 – Robert Laurent, American sculptor
• April 29 – Charles R. Chickering, American illustrator
• May 13 – William Dobell, Australian sculptor and painter
• May 29 – Eva Hesse, German-born American sculptor
• May 31 - Clare Sheridan, English sculptor and author
• June 3 - Roberto Longhi, Italian art historian curator
• June 6
• * Camille Bombois, French naïve painter
• * Signe Hammarsten-Jansson, Swedish-Finnish graphic artist
• June 15 – Almada Negreiros, Portuguese artist
• June 27 – Edwin La Dell, British artist
• July 4 – Barnett Newman, American artist
• July 7 – Dame Laura Knight, English Impressionist painter
• July 13 – Lazar Drljača, Serbian painter
• July 30 – Maud Lewis, Canadian folk artist
• November 29 - Walter Stuempfig, American painter
• December 1 – Hermine David, French painter
• December 19 – Stig Blomberg, Swedish sculptor date unknown – Ze'ev Raban, Israeli painter