1978 in art

Last updated October 31, 2025

Events

27 June – Stitching the Standard by Edmund Leighton is sold at Sotheby's in Belgravia to a private collector.^[1]

Archibald Prize: Brett Whiteley – Art, Life and the other thing
John Moores Painting Prize - Noel Forster for "A painting in six stages with a silk triangle"^[2]

10 January – Gluck, born Hannah Gluckstein, English painter (b. 1895)
19 January – Živko Stojsavljević, Serbian painter (b. 1900).
1 February – Don Freeman, American author, painter and illustrator (b. 1908)
24 February – Alma Thomas, African American abstract expressionist painter (b. 1891).
13 April – Jack Chambers, Canadian artist and filmmaker (b. 1931).
27 April – Ralston Crawford, Canadian-born American painter, lithographer and photographer (b. 1906)
29 April – Yukihiko Yasuda, Japanese painter (b. 1884).
8 May – Duncan Grant, Scottish painter (b. 1885).
21 May – Jo Spier, Dutch artist and illustrator (b. 1900)
31 May – Hannah Höch, German Dada photomontage artist (b. 1889).
13 July
- Thomas B. Hess, American art editor, writer, and curator (b. 1920)
- Oliver Messel, English-born stage designer (b. 1904).
5 August – Victor Hasselblad, Swedish inventor and photographer (b. 1889).
14 August – Nicolas Bentley, British author and illustrator (b. 1907).
27 August – Gordon Matta-Clark, American artist (b. 1943).
6 November – Harry Bertoia, Italian-born American artist and designer (b. 1915).
8 November – Norman Rockwell, American painter and illustrator (b. 1894).
20 November – Giorgio de Chirico, Greek-Italian painter (b. 1888).
30 November - Otto Kallir, Austrian -American art historian, author, publisher, and gallerist (b. 1894).