1976 in art

Events

• July–August – Articles by Geraldine Norman in The Times expose a number of paintings attributed to Samuel Palmer as the work of Tom Keating, which he does not deny.
• 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.
• 20 September until 21 November – "Two Centuries of Black American Art" curated by David Driskell at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Los Angeles, California - then traveled to; the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia, the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts in Dallas, Texas, and the Brooklyn Museum.

Works

• Vito Acconci – The Red Tapes
• Judy Baca and 400 community artists – Great Wall of Los Angeles
• Francis Bacon – Triptych
• Jennifer Bartlett – Rhapsody
• Pye Engström – Efter badet
• Christo and Jeanne Claude – "Running Fence" in Sonoma County and Marin County, California, United States
• Jimmy Carter Peanut Statue
• Nabil Kanso – Faust
• 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 – ''''

Films

• Blackwood

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
• 30 April – Tomokazu Matsuyama, Japanese artist
• 10 June – Tai Shani, British artist

• Donato Piccolo, Italian 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
• 22 October - Edward Burra, British artist
• 31 October – Eileen Gray, Irish furniture designer and architect
• 11 November – Alexander Calder, American sculptor and multi media artist
• 18 November – Man Ray, American artist and photographer
• 11 December – Elmyr de Hory, Hungarian-born painter and art forger
• 19 December – Giuseppe Caselli, Italian painter
• 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