1931 in art

Events

• February 15 – Abstraction-Création group formed in Paris by Theo van Doesburg to promote non-figurative, non-surrealist art. Other founder members include Auguste Herbin, Jean Hélion and Georges Vantongerloo.^[1]
• October 4 – Debut appearance of the Dick Tracy comic strip, created by cartoonist Chester Gould.
• The Whitney Museum of American Art is founded by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney.
• The Pierre Matisse Gallery opens in New York City.
• Henry Moore holds his first solo exhibition of sculptures, at The Leicester Galleries in London.

Works

• Max Beckmann – Paris Society
• Heitor da Silva Costa and Paul Landowski – Christ the Redeemer (statue, Rio de Janeiro)
• Salvador Dalí – The Persistence of Memory
• Robert William Davidson – Eve (sculpture)
• Frida Kahlo – Frida and Diego Rivera
• Tamara de Lempicka – Adam and Eve
• René Magritte – The Voice of Space
• Carl Milles – Flygarmonumentet (Stockholm)
• Georgia O'Keeffe – Cow's Skull: Red, White, and Blue (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
• Pablo Picasso – Figures by the Sea
• Lorado Taft – The Crusader (sculpture)
• Grant Wood – The Birthplace of Herbert Hoover

Awards

• Archibald Prize: John Longstaff – Sir John Sulman

Births

• January 21 – Paul Deliège, Belgian comic strip artist and writer (d. 2005)
• February 9 – Robert Morris, American sculptor
• February 16 – Irina Dobrekova, Russian painter
• February 18 – Johnny Hart, American cartoonist (d. 2007)
• February 23 – Tom Wesselmann, American pop artist (d. 2004)
• February 26
  • Jacques Rouxel, French animator (d. 2004)
  • Radomir Stević Ras, Serbian painter and designer (d. 1982).
• March 13 – Michael Podro, English art historian (d. 2008)
• March 25 – Jack Chambers, Canadian artist and filmmaker (d. 1978)
• April 24 – Bridget Riley, English op art painter
• April 25 – David Shepherd, English wildlife and military painter
• April 26 – Vera Nazina, Russian painter
• April 29 – Frank Auerbach, German-born painter
• July 15 – Brian Sewell, English art critic
• August 20 – Bernd Becher, German photographer (d. 2007)
• August 24 – Bartolomeu Cid dos Santos, Portuguese artist and professor (d. 2008)

date unknown

• Serge Danot, French animator (d. 1990)
• Sheila Fell, English painter (d. 1979)
• Olja Ivanjicki, Serbian painter (d. 2009)

Deaths

• January 7 – Giuseppe Barison, Italian painter (b. 1853)
• February 3 – Jefferson David Chalfant, painter (b. 1856)
• March 7
  • Theo van Doesburg, painter and architect, leader of De Stijl (b. 1883)
  • Akseli Gallen-Kallela, painter (b. 1865)
• March 14 – Alfred Grenander, architect (b. 1863)
• March 24 – Derwent Lees, Australian landscape painter (b. 1885)
• July 11 – Jean-Louis Forain, Impressionist painter (b. 1852)
• September 14 – Tom Roberts, painter (b. 1856)
• September 20 – Max Littmann, architect (b. 1862)
• September 29 – William Orpen, portrait painter (b. 1878)
• October 10 – Sir Bertram Mackennal, Australian-born sculptor (b. 1863)
• November 17 – Edward Simmons, Impressionist painter (b. 1852)
• date unknown
  • Bela Čikoš Sesija, Croatian painter (b. 1864)
  • Lancelot Speed, British illustrator (b. 1860)
  • William John Wainwright, English painter (b. 1855)
  • Todor Švrakić, Serbian painter (b. 1882).

See also

• 1931 in fine arts of the Soviet Union

References