1936 in art

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Events

February 15 – Exhibition Abstract and Concrete, curated by Nicolete Gray, opens at 41 St Giles', Oxford, prior to touring England. It is the first showing of abstract art, and of the work of Mondrian, in the country.^[1]
May 27 – RMS Queen Mary begins her maiden Atlantic crossing. Interior design, under the direction of E. C. Leach, is by Arthur Joseph Davis and J. C. Whipp of Mewès & Davis (UK) and Benjamin Wistar Morris (USA) with much craftsmanship undertaken by the Bromsgrove Guild of Applied Arts. Graphic artists commissioned to supply work include Edward Wadsworth and Anna and Doris Zinkeisen.^[2]
June 11–July 4 – London International Surrealist Exhibition, opened by André Breton.
November – Exhibition Cubism and Abstract Art, curated by Alfred H. Barr, Jr., opens at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
November 23 – Margaret Bourke-White's photographs of the construction of the Fort Peck Dam are featured in the first issue of Life magazine.
December 1 – Members of the Artists Union occupy the New York City offices of the Federal Art Project; police arrest 219 of them, the largest-ever arrest in the city at this date.

January 11 – Eva Hesse, German-born American sculptor (d. 1970).
January 23 – Willoughby Sharp, American author, curator and critic (d. 2008)
May 10
- Timothy Birdsall, English cartoonist and illustrator (d. 1963)
- Isaac Witkin, South African sculptor (d. 2006)
May 12 – Frank Stella, Italian American painter
May 15 – Ralph Steadman, English caricaturist
June 15 – Edward Avedisian, American abstract painter (d. 2007).
August 1 – Yves Saint Laurent, French fashion designer (d. 2008)
August 12 – Hans Haacke, German conceptual artist working in the United States
August 29 – Richard Haas, American muralist
September 14
- Terence Donovan, English photographer (d. 1996)
- Lucas Samaras, Greek-born American photographer and sculptor
November 29 – Gregory Gillespie, American magic realist painter (d. 2000).
Full date unknown
- Joan Jonas, American visual artist, pioneer of video and performance art
- Marko Stupar, Serbian artist living and working in France from 1964

February 25 – Anna Boch, Belgian painter (b. 1848)
March 8 – Victor Noble Rainbird, English painter, stained glass artist and illustrator (b. 1887)
March 18 – W. Herbert Dunton, American Western painter, member of the Taos art colony (b. 1878)
April 21 – Ottó Baditz, Hungarian painter (b. 1849)
July 7 – Heinrich Hoerle, German constructivist artist (b. 1895)
July 10 – Carl von Marr, American-born German painter (b. 1858)
October 12 – Edwin Blashfield, American painter and muralist (b. 1848)
November 12 – Patrick Henry Bruce, American Cubist painter (b. 1881)
Donald Maxwell, English illustrator and travel writer (b. 1877)

^ Green, Christopher; Wright, Barnaby, eds. (2012). Mondrian / Nicholson in Parallel. London: Courtauld Gallery. ISBN 978-1-90737232-2.
^ Wuellner, Margarita J.; Fratinardo, Marlise; Kainer, Amanda (2009). "Final Inventory Report: Survey of Original Fine and Decorative Arts on the Royal Mail Ship Queen Mary" (PDF). Santa Monica: PCR Services Corporation. Retrieved 2015-04-14.