2015 in art

The year 2015 in art involves various significant events.

List of years in art (table)
… 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 …
Art Archaeology Architecture Literature Music Philosophy Science +...

Events

• February - Paul Gauguin's painting When Will You Marry? sells for $300m (£197m), reportedly to Qatar Museums, the highest known price ever paid for any work of art
• April - The accused rapist in the Emma Sulkowicz case which inspired the art piece "Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight)" files suit in United States Federal Court in Manhattan against Columbia University, its art department chairman Jon Kessler, and the University president Lee C. Bollinger, saying through his attorneys, that he is the victim of Gender Discrimination and a "witch hunt".[1]
• April 2 - Sir Peter Blake's temporary artwork Everybody Razzle Dazzle, Mersey Ferry MV Snowdrop painted in a variation of dazzle camouflage, enters service on the River Mersey in England.[2]
• April 13 - A South African man is charged with vandalising a Johannesburg statue of Mahatma Gandhi by attempting to paint it white.[3]
• May 1 - The new Whitney Museum of American Art facility in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, designed by Renzo Piano, opens.[4]
  

  Whitney Museum, New York
• May 11 - One canvas, "Version O", the final painting from a series of fifteen paintings and numerous drawings entitled Les Femmes d'Alger by Pablo Picasso created after the death of his friend and contemporary Henri Matisse sells for $179.4 million U.S (with fees) at Christie's in New York City thus establishing a new record for the highest price ever paid at auction for a work of art.[5] At the same sale "Pointing Man", a work by the Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti sells for $141.3 million U.S., making it the highest price ever paid for a sculpture at auction.[6][7]
• August 21 - Street artist Banksy opens Dismaland, a temporary art project in the seaside resort town of Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, England.[8]
• September - Rembrandt's early painting Unconscious Patient (Allegory of Smell) (from The Senses series, 1624-5) emerges at an auction in New Jersey and is purchased for the Leiden Collection in New York City.
• September 20 - The Broad contemporary art museum in Downtown Los Angeles, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, opens.
• October 8 - Newport Street Gallery in South London, a conversion of 1913 theatrical workshops into a free public art gallery for Damien Hirst by Caruso St John architects opens.[9]
• November 10 - "The Brigadier" by Lucien Freud, a portrait of Andrew Parker Bowles in his British Royal Army uniform sells for $34.89 million US at christies in New York City.[10]
• December 6 - A woman at the Art Basel Miami Beach art fair stabs another in plain sight of art goers and the incident is at first ignored as people think that it is a work of performance art.[11]

Exhibitions

• January 31 until May 31 - Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland, 1861–2008 at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut.[12]
• February 6 until May 10 - Treasures from Chopin's Country. Polish Art from the 15th to 20th Century at the National Museum of China in Beijing.[13]
• February 6 until May 3 - Tapies: From Within at the Pérez Art Museum Miami.[14]
• February 20 until May 24 - Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic at the Brooklyn Museum in Brooklyn, New York[15] - then traveled to the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in Fort Worth, Texas from September 20 until January 10, 2016[16] and to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia from June 11. 2016 until September 5, 2016[17]
• February 25 until May 24 - The "2015 Triennial: Surround Audience" at the New Museum in New York City.[18][19]
• February 1 until May 3 - Once in a Lifetime: Piero di Cosimo at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, then travels to Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence (June 23–September 27, 2015).[20]
• March 10 until September 20- Richard Estes: Painting New York City at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City.[21]
• March 26 until September 13 - Water to Paper, Paint to Sky: The Art of Tyrus Wong at the Museum of Chinese in America" in New York City.[22]
• May 9 until September 22 - "Sean Scully: Land Sea" at the Palazzo Falier in Venice, Italy.[23]
• May 1 until September 27 - America is Hard to See at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.[24]
• May 17 - September 7 - "Yoko Ono: One Woman Show, 1960–1971" at MOMA in New York City.[25]
• June 5 until August 30 - Polish Art: Enduring Spirit at the National Museum of Korea in Seoul.[26]
• June 28 until October 4 - Gustave Caillebotte: The Painter's Eye at the National Gallery of Art, Washington.[27]
• June 30 until October 4 - "Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York CIty,[28]
• July 10 until January 24, 2016 - No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960–1990 at the Guildhall Art Gallery, City of London,[29]
• July 18 until September 27 - Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes annual exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.[30]
• July 31 until November 8 - Masterpieces from the Hermitage: The Legacy of Catherine the Great at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia.[31]
• August 14 until October 25 - Julia Margaret Cameron from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.[32]
• September 14 until February 7, 2016 - Picasso Sculpture at MOMA in New York City.[33]
• October 2 until January 17, 2016 - Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.[34]
• October 7 until January 10, 2016 - Andrea del Sarto: The Renaissance Workshop in Action at the Frick Collection in New York City.[35]
• October 9 until January 6, 2016 - Alberto Burri: The Trauma of Painting at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City.[36]
• October 24 until February 14, 2016 - The Greats: masterpieces from the National Galleries of Scotland at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.[37]
• October 30 until February 7, 2016 - Frank Stella: A Retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.[38]
• November 5 until March 13, 2016 - Martin Wong: Human Instamatic at the Bronx Museum of Art.[39]
• November 19 until February 21, 2016 - Nari Ward: Sun Splashed at the Pérez Art Museum Miami.[40]

Works

• Atelier Van Lieshout - "Domestikator"[41]
• Banksy – Portrait of Steve Jobs at Calais jungle.
• Alberto Burri - Il Grande Cretto, Gibellina, Sicily, Italy (work begun in 1984 completed)
• Dante Ferretti – Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life for Expo 2015 in Milan, Italy.[42]
• Anthea Hamilton – Project for Door (After Gaetano Pesce)
• Michael Mandiberg - "Print Wikipedia"[43]
• Cornelia Parker and collaborators – Magna Carta (An Embroidery)
• Paul Rucker - "Storm in the Time of Shelter"[44]
• Thomas Sayre - Kerf sculptures, Portland, Oregon[45]
• Anne Storrs - Along These Lines, Portland, Oregon[46]
• Emma Sulkowicz – Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight) continued from 2014 at Columbia University in New York City.[47]
• Adrián Villar Rojas, "The Most Beautiful of All Mothers" in the Sea of Marmara off the island of Büyükada and in front of the Turkish home in exile of Leon Trotsky as part of the 2015 Istanbul Biennial in Istanbul, Turkey[48]
• Statue o Baphomet

Awards

• Archibald Prize - Nigel Milsom for "Portrait of Charles Waterstreet[49]
• Artes Mundi Prize - Theaster Gates
• Käthe Kollwitz Prize - Bernard Frize[50]—The Venice Biennial (May 9- November 22) --
• Leone d'Oro for Lifetime Achievement: El Anatsui, Ghana
• Leone d'Oro for the Best Artist of the international exhibition: Adrian Piper, United States
• Leone d'Oro for the Best Young Artist: Im Heung-soon, South Korea
• Leone d'Oro for Best Pavilion: Armenia; Haig Aivazian, Nigol Bezjian, Anna Boghiguian, Hera Büyüktaş, Silvina Der Meguerditchian, Ayreen Anastas and Rene Gabri, Mekhitar Garabedian, Aikaterini Gegisian, Yervant Gianikian and Ricci Lucchi, Aram Jibilian, Nina Katchadourian, Melik Ohanian, Mikayel Ohanjanyan, Rosana Palazyan, Sarkis, Hrair Sarkissian, curated by Adelina Cüberyan von Fürstenberg

Deaths

• January 4 - Elisabetta Catalano, 70, Italian fine-art photographer
• January 5 - Milton Hebald, 97, American sculptor
• January 13 - Jane Wilson, 90, American painter
• January 15 - Walter Westbrook, 93, South African artist
• January 16
  • Ted Harrison, 88, British-born Canadian painter
  • Walter Peregoy, 89, American visual and animation background artist
• January 22 - Margaret Bloy Graham, 94, Canadian author and illustrator
• January 24 - Frances Lennon, 102, English painter and illustrator
• January 26 - Cleven "Goodie" Goudeau, 83, American greeting card artist
• January 27 - Arturo Carmassi, 89, Italian sculptor and painter
• January 29 - Will McBride, 84, American photographer
• January 31 - Vasco Bendini, 93, Italian painter
• February 3 - Walter Liedtke, 69, American art curator of European paintings (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
• February 7 - John C. Whitehead, 92, American baker, civil servant and art collector
• February 12 - Tomie Ohtake, 101, Japanese-Brazilian artist
• February 15.- Mikhail Koulakov, 82, Russian painter
• February 21 - John Knapp-Fisher, 83, British painter
• February 24 - Roger Cecil, 72, Welsh painter
• March 1 - Carel Visser, 86, Dutch sculptor
• March 4 - William King, 90, American sculptor
• March 7 - Osi Rhys Osmond, Welsh painter and television presenter
• March 11 - Inger Sitter, 85, Norwegian painter and graphic designer
• March 12 - Michael Graves, 80, American architect
• March 13 - Ismaïla Manga, 67, Senegalese painter
• March 14 - Bodys Isek Kingelez, 66 or 67, Democratic Republic of Congo sculptor
• March 17 - Kuniyoshi Kaneko, 78, Japanese painter, illustrator and photographer
• March 21 - Hans Erni, 106, Swiss painter, designer and sculptor
• March 24 - Otto Frello, 90, Danish artist and illustrator
• March 26 - Albert Irvin, 92, British artist
• March 27 - Michael Rush, American museum director (the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum)
• March 31 - Betty Churcher, 84, Australian arts administrator and curator, director of the National Gallery of Australia (1990–1997)
• April 2 - Paule Anglim, 90+, American gallerist
• April 5 - Sargy Mann, 77, British painter
• April 8 - Lars Tunbjörk, 59, Swedish photographer
• April 9 - Rafael Soriano, 94, Cuban painter
• April 12 - Jože Ciuha, 90, Slovenian painter
• April 15 - Judith Malina, 88, American actress, Co-founder of The Living Theater
• April 16 - Giuseppe Zigaina. 91, Italian neorealist painter and author
• May 4 - Eva Aeppli, 90, Swiss artist
• May 7 - John Dixon, 86, Australian cartoonist (Air Hawk and the Flying Doctors)[51]
• May 8 - Menashe Kadishman, 82, Israeli painter and sculptor
• May 10
  • Jack Body, 70, New Zealand composer and photographer
  • Chris Burden, 69, American artist
  • William T. Cooper, 81, Australian ornithologist and illustrator
  • Rachel Rosenthal, 88, French-born American performance artist
• May 17 - Gerald Steadman Smith, 85, Canadian artist
• May 23 - Carl Nesjar, 94, Norwegian painter and sculptor
• May 25 - Mary Ellen Mark, 75, American photographer
• June 2 - Miguel-Ángel Cárdenas, 80, Colombian-Dutch painter and illustrator
• June 12
  • Antoni Pitxot, 81, Spanish painter
  • Nek Chand Saini, 90, Indian sculptor
• June 19 - Earl Norem, 92, American painter and illustrator
• June 20 - Miriam Schapiro, 91, Canadian-born American painter, sculptor and printmaker
• June 22 - Don Featherstone, 79, American artist and inventor of the plastic pink flamingo
• July 2 - David Aronson, 91, American painter
• July 20 - Sally Gross, 81, American avant-garde choreographer, dancer
• July 24 - Ingrid Sischy, 63, South African born art critic
• August 4 - Calle Örnemark, 81, Swedish sculptor
• August 10 - Sunil Das, 76, Indian artist
• August 16 - Melva Bucksbaum, 82, American art collector, curator, patron of the arts and vice chairwoman of the Whitney Museum board of trustees
• August 28
  • David Michie, 87, French-born British painter.[52] (death announced on this date)
  • Nelson Shanks, 77, American painter, cancer.[53]
• September 3 - Yevgeny Ukhnalyov, 83, Russian artist, co-author of the current coat of arms of Russia
• September 6 - John Perreault, 78, American art critic
• September 12 - Salvo, 68, Italian artist
• September 15 - Cor Melchers, 61, Dutch painter
• September 17 - Stojan Batič, 90, Slovene sculptor
• September 19 - Brian Sewell, 84, British art critic
• September 25 - Carol Rama, 97, Italian painter
• September 26 - Paul Reed, 96, American painter
• October 10 - Hilla Becher, 81, German photographer
• October 15 - Bruce Mozert, 98, American photographer
• October 25 - Wojciech Fangor, 92, Polish artist
• November 3 - Judy Cassab, 95, Austrian-born Australian portrait painter
• November 4 - Laila Pullinen, 82, Finnish sculptor.
• November 7 - Pancho Guedes, 90, Portuguese architect and artist
• November 12
  • Peter McLeavey, 79, New Zealand art dealer
  • Aaron Shikler, 93, American artist
• November 25 - Eva Fuka, 88, Czech-born American photographer
• November 26 - Eldzier Cortor, 99, American artist
• December 6 - Holly Woodlawn, 69, Puerto Rican transgender actress and Warhol Superstar
• December 13 - Hema Upadhyay, 43, Indian artist
• December 16 - George Earl Ortman, 89, American artist
• December 27 - Ellsworth Kelly, 92, American artist

References

1. Marsh, Julia (2014-04-24). "Accused rapist sues Columbia". New York Post.
2. "Liverpool's 'Dazzle ship' opens to public to mark WW1 centenary". BBC. 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-04-02.
3. "Mahatma Gandhi statue vandalised in Johannesburg". BBC News. 2015-04-13. Retrieved 2015-05-09.
4. Kutner, Max (2015-04-30). "Whitney Museum's Monumental New Digs Open May 1". Newsweek. Retrieved 2015-12-20.
5. Reyburn, Scott (2015-05-11). "Picasso and Giacometti Artworks Top $120 Million Each at Christie's Sale". The New York Times.
6. "Picasso's 'Women of Algiers' and Giacometti's 'Pointing Man' set auction records". DW. Retrieved 2015-12-20.
7. Miller, Michael E. (12 May 2015). "Picasso painting sells for record $179 million, but are we all paying the price?". Washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
8. Morris, Steven (2014-08-18). "Banksy fans flock to Weston-super-Mare after Dismaland show rumours". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2015-08-18.
9. "damien hirst's newport street gallery opens in london". Designboom.com. 8 October 2015. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
10. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/nov/11/lucian-freud-portrait-of-camillas-ex-husband-sells-for-nearly-35m
11. "Woman stabbed at Art Basel, witnesses thought it was art". Fox 411. Fox News. 2015-12-05. Retrieved 2015-12-20.
12. "Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland, 1861-2008". Thewadsworth.org. Retrieved 2015-05-09.
13. "Treasures from Chopin's Country. Polish Art from the 15th to 20th Century". National Museum in Warsaw. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-09-28. Retrieved 2018-09-18.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
15. "Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic". Brooklyn Museum. Retrieved 2015-05-09.
16. https://www.themodern.org/exhibition/Past/Kehinde-Wiley-A-New-Republic/1873
17. https://www.vmfa.museum/exhibitions/exhibitions/kehinde-wiley-a-new-republic/
18. "2015 Triennial: Surround Audience". Newmuseum.org. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
19. Scott, Andrea K. (2015-03-30). ""Surround Audience" at the New Museum". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2015-05-09.
20. "Piero di Cosimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence". Retrieved 2015-05-09.
21. "Richard Estes - The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD)". Madmuseum.org. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
22. "Water to Paper, Paint to Sky: The Art of Tyrus Wong". Retrieved 2015-05-09.
23. http://artdaily.com/news/78345/Major-exhibition-dedicated-to-Irish-artist-Sean-Scully-opens-at-Palazzo-Falier-in-Venice-#.XR5sb00pD3A
24. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-06-28. Retrieved 2015-06-29.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
25. "Yoko Ono: One Woman Show, 1960–1971 - MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
26. "Polish Art: Enduring spirit". National Museum in Warsaw. Archived from the original on 2015-07-14. Retrieved 2015-07-14.
27. Cotter, Holland (2015-07-09). "Review: Paris Is Reborn in 'Gustave Caillebotte: The Painter's Eye'". The New York Times.
28. "Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends - The Metropolitan Museum of Art". Metmuseum.org. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
29. "No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960-1990" Archived 2015-08-02 at the Wayback Machine, Huntleys Online.
30. "Prizes". Artgallery.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved May 9, 2015.
31. "Masterpieces from the Hermitage". National Gallery of Victoria. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
32. "Julia Margaret Cameron". Art Gallery of New South Wales. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
33. "Picasso Sculpture - MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
34. "Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist - Whitney Museum of American Art". Whitney.org. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
35. "Past Exhibition: Andrea del Sarto - The Frick Collection". Frick.org. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
36. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-12-12. Retrieved 2015-12-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
37. "The Greats masterpieces from the National Galleries of Scotland". Art Gallery of New South Wales. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
38. "Frank Stella: A Retrospective - Whitney Museum of American Art". Whitney.org. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
39. exhibit-e.com. "Martin Wong: Human Instamatic - Exhibitions - The Bronx Museum of the Arts". www.bronxmuseum.org. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
40. "Nari Ward: Sun Splashed". Pamm.org. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
41. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/atelier-van-lieshout-domestikator-unveiled-centre-pompidou-1119602
42. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-11-17. Retrieved 2015-11-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
43. https://www.mandiberg.com/print-wikipedia/
44. https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_560d673ce4b0768127010cf5
45. Laura Lee; Frank Stasio. "Earthcaster: A Sculptor Collaborates With Mother Earth And Communities". Wunc.org. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
46. "Rhine-Lafayette Pedestrian Overpass - How We Roll". Howweroll.trimet.org. Archived from the original on 6 December 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
47. "Carry That Weight: Emma Sulkowicz's mattress becomes a national movement". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2015-05-09.
48. Searle, Adrian (7 September 2015). "Istanbul Biennial 2015: an overwhelming meditation on the tides of human misery". Theguardian.com. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
49. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-17/nigel-milsom-wins-archibald-prize-with-waterstreet-portrait/6627264
50. Art Review, "Bernard Frize wins the 2015 Käthe Kollwitz Prize". Accessed 10 May 2015
51. "John Dangar Dixon 1929 - 1915". Comicoz.com. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
52. "David Michie 1928 – 2015". Eca.ed.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2015-09-06. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
53. "Famous local artist Nelson Shanks dies at 77". Phillyvoice.com. Retrieved 6 December 2017.