1997 in art

List of years in art (Table)
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Events

• 27 January – It is revealed that French museums had nearly 2,000 pieces of art that had been stolen by Nazis.
• 6 March – Pablo Picasso's Tête de Femme is stolen from a London gallery (recovered a week later).
• 27 April – Andrew Cunanan murders Jeffrey Trail, beginning a murder spree that will last until July and end with the murder of fashion designer Gianni Versace.

Full date unknown

• Puppy by Jeff Koons is moved from Sydney Harbour to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.
• Robert Colescott becomes the first African-American to represent the United States in a solo exhibition at the Venice Biennial.

Exhibitions

• Sensation opens at the Royal Academy of Art in London.
• Documenta X opens in Kassel

Awards

• Archibald Prize – Nigel Thomson, Barbara Blackman
• Schock Prize in Visual Arts – Torsten Andersson
• Turner Prize – Gillian Wearing

-The Venice Biennial-

• The Lion d'or (Golden Lion) for Lifetime Achievement: Emilio Vedova (Italy) , Agnes Martin (USA)
• The Lion d'or for Best Pavilion: France exhibiting the work of Fabrice Hyber

Artworks

See also: Category:1997 paintings

• Another Place by Antony Gormley
• Eight Months Gone by Lucian Freud

Deaths

January to June

• 2 February – Theodoros Stamos, Greek American abstract expressionist painter (b.1922).
• 7 March – Martin Kippenberger, German artist (b.1953).
• 11 March – Sam Golden, paint maker (b.1915).
• 19 March – Willem de Kooning, Dutch born American abstract expressionist painter (b.1904).
• 16 April – Roland Topor, French illustrator, painter, writer and filmmaker (b.1938).
• 20 April – Jean Louis, French costume designer (b.1907).
• 23 May – James Lee Byars, American artist (b.1932).

July to December

• 15 July – Gianni Versace, Italian fashion designer, murdered (b.1946).
• 16 July – Dora Maar, French photographer, poet and painter, lover of Pablo Picasso (b.1907).
• 29 September – Roy Lichtenstein, American pop artist (b.1923).
• 22 October – Leonid Amalrik, Russian animator and animation director (b.1905).
• 23 October – Claire Falkenstein, American sculptor and painter (b.1908).
• 16 December – Lillian Disney, American artist and wife of Walt Disney (b.1899).

Full date unknown

• Jean Pierre Capron, French painter (b.1921).
• Jean-Pierre Sudre, French photographer (b.1921).