1912 in art
The year 1912 in art involved some significant events and new works.
Events
- January 5 – Moscow Art Theatre production of Hamlet, designed by Edward Gordon Craig, opens.
- May – The Blue Rider Almanac published in Munich, containing reproductions of more than 140 multi-ethnic artworks, articles on the visual arts and music and Vasilly Kandinsky's experimental theater composition The Yellow Sound.
- June 26 – Austrian writer Frida Strindberg opens The Cave of the Golden Calf, a London nightclub decorated by Spencer Gore, Wyndham Lewis, Charles Ginner and Jacob Epstein with its motif by Eric Gill; it becomes a haunt of Futurists.
- July – At the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, American marksman, horse breeder and artist Walter W. Winans wins a silver medal for shooting and a gold in the sculpture category of the art competitions for his bronze statuette An American Trotter.
- December 24 – William Zorach marries Marguerite Thompson.
- In Paris, Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger publish the first major treatise on Cubism, Du "Cubisme", followed by André Salmon's La jeune peinture française including Histoire anecdotique du cubisme.
- Ludwig Meidner begins producing his "Apocalyptic Landscapes".
Exhibitions
- March – Exhibition of Italian Futurism transfers from Paris to the Sackville Gallery in London, organised by Robert René Meyer-Sée.
- May 25–September 30 – Third International Art Exhibition organized by Sonderbund westdeutscher Kunstfreunde und Künstler, in Cologne, featuring works by Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso, Henri-Edmond Cross, Paul Signac and Edvard Munch.
- Second Post-Impressionist Exhibition organized by Roger Fry in London.
- René Lalique and Maurice Marinot independently stage the first exhibitions of their glasswares.
Works
- Giacomo Balla – Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash
- Vanessa Bell – Three portraits of her sister Virginia Woolf
- George Bellows – Men of the Docks
- David Bomberg – :File:DavidBomberg-VisionofEzekiel.jpg|Vision of Ezekiel
- Pierre Bonnard – St Tropez, Pier
- Richard E. Brooks – Statue of John McGraw
- Paul Émile Chabas – September Morn
- Jerome Connor – Bishop John Carroll
- John Currie –
- Roger de la Fresnaye – Mon Ami, Jean Cocteau
- Robert Delaunay – :File:Delaunay-Windows.jpg|Simultaneous Windows on the City
- Marcel Duchamp – Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2
- Lydia Field Emmet – Self Portrait
- Jacob Epstein – Tomb of Oscar Wilde
- E. Phillips Fox – Nasturtiums
- Roger Fry
- * :File:Portrait of Edith Sitwell.jpg|Portrait of Edith Sitwell
- * :File:Fry, River with Poplars.jpg|River with Poplars
- Laura Gilpin – Basket of Peaches
- Albert Gleizes
- * Les Baigneuses
- * Le Dépiquage des Moissons
- * L'Homme au balcon
- * Passy, Bridges of Paris
- J. W. Godward
- * Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder
- * By The Wayside
- * :File:Godward-An Offering to Venus-1912.jpg|An Offering To Venus
- * The Peacock Fan
- Juan Gris – Verre et Bouteilles
- Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
- * :File:Ernst Ludwig Kirchner - Nollendorfplatz.jpg|Nollendorfplatz
- * :File:Kirchner - Das Urteil des Paris.jpg|Das Urteil des Paris
- * :File:Vier Holzplastiken 1912.jpg|Vier Holzplastiken
- Boris Kustodiev
- * :File:Paskhakustodiev.jpg|Easter Greetings
- * :File:Kustodiev self portrait.jpg|Self-portrait
- Jacques Henri Lartigue – Grand Prix de l'A.C.F.
- Fernand Léger
- * Grade Crossing
- * La Fumée
- * :File:Fernand Léger, Woman in Blue, Femme en Bleu, 1912, oil on canvas, 193 x 129.9 cm.jpg|Woman in Blue
- Wyndham Lewis – :File:Smiling Woman Ascending a Stair, Wyndham Lewis, 1912.jpg|Smiling Woman Ascending a Stair
- J. B. Manson – Approximate date
- * :File:Manson-Self.jpg|Self-portrait
- * :File:Manson-Still-Life-Tulips-In-A-Blue-Jug.jpg|Still Life: Tulips in a Blue Jug
- Franz Marc
- * :File:Atonement by Franz Marc 1912.jpeg|Atonement
- * :File:Deer in the Woods II.jpg|Deer in the Woods II
- * :File:Franz Marc - Der Traum - Google Art Project.jpg|The Dream
- * :File:Horses Resting by Franz Marc.jpeg|Horses Resting
- * :File:Franz Marc-In the Rain.jpg|In the Rain
- * :File:Aus der Tierlegende by Franz Marc 1912.jpg|Legend of the Animals
- * :File:Das Äffchen.jpg|The Little Monkey
- * :File:Franz Marc Roter Stier, 1912.jpg|Red Bull
- * :File:Schlafende Hirtin by Franz Marc 1912.jpg|Sleeping Shepherdess
- * :File:Franz Marc-Tiger.jpg|Tiger
- Henri Matisse
- * The Conversation
- * Le Rifain assis
- * Zorah on the Terrace
- Jean Metzinger
- * Danseuse au café
- * La Femme au Cheval
- * Femme à l'Éventail
- * Au Vélodrome
- * L'Oiseau bleu
- * La Plume Jaune
- Amedeo Modigliani – Tête
- Piet Mondrian – Gray Tree
- Mikhail Nesterov – :File:Mikhail Nesterov 003.jpg|Crucifixion
- Emil Nolde – :File:'The Prophet', woodcut by Emil Nolde, 1912.jpg|The Prophet
- William Orpen – :File:William Orpen Portrait of Gardenia St George with riding crop.jpg|Portrait of Gardenia St. George With Riding Crop
- Pablo Picasso
- * Still Life with Chair Caning
- * Violon et raisins
- * Violon, verre, pipe et encrier
- Charles A. Platt – Josephine Shaw Lowell Memorial Fountain
- Franz Roubaud – :File:Battle of Borodino part of panorama by Franz Roubaud.jpg|Battle of Borodino Panorama
- Egon Schiele
- * Portrait of Wally
- * :File:Egon Schiele 079.jpg|Self-portrait with Chinese lantern fruits
- Kathleen Scott – :File:Charles Stewart Rolls, aviator - geograph.org.uk - 824750.jpg|Charles Stewart Rolls
- T. F. Simon – Second Hand Booksellers, Spring
- Max Slevogt – :File:Max Slevogt - Der Sänger Francisco d'Andrade als Don Giovanni in Mozarts Oper - Google Art Project.jpg|The Singer Francisco D'Andrade as Don Giovanni in Mozart's Opera
- Stanley Spencer – The Nativity''
- James Wehn – Statue of Chief Seattle
- Christopher Whall and Mabel Esplin – Lady chapel windows, St John the Divine, Richmond, London
Births
January to June
- January 7 – Charles Addams, American cartoonist
- January 28 – Jackson Pollock, American painter
- February 7 – Russell Drysdale, Australian artist
- March 4 – Afro Basaldella, Italian painter
- March 22 – Agnes Martin, Canadian-US painter
- April 14 – Robert Doisneau, French photographer
- April 21 – Eve Arnold, née Cohen, American photographer
- May 8 – John Deakin, English photographer
- June 4 – Robert Jacobsen, Danish sculptor and painter
- June 8 – Harry Holtzman, American artist
- June 11 – William Baziotes, American painter
July to December
- August 1 – Rachel Baes, Belgian painter
- August 23 – Keith Vaughan, English painter
- August 29 – Wolfgang Suschitzky, Austrian-born documentary photographer and cinematographer
- September 4
- * Syd Hoff, US children's book author and cartoonist
- * Alexander Liberman, Russian-born painter and sculptor
- September 5
- * Kristina Söderbaum, Swedish-German film actress, producer and photographer
- * Frank Thomas, US animator
- September 23 – Tony Smith, US sculptor, visual artist and theorist on art
- October 31 – Ollie Johnston, US animator
- November 3 – Ida Kohlmeyer, US painter and sculptor
- November 28 – Morris Louis, US painter
- December 27 – Conroy Maddox, English surrealist painter, collagist, writer and lecturer
Deaths
- February 14 – Mathurin Moreau, French sculptor
- March 16 – Elizabeth Forbes, Canadian painter of the Newlyn School
- March 29 – John Gerrard Keulemans, Dutch bird illustrator
- March 31 – Robert Loftin Newman, American painter and stained-glass designer
- April 15 – Francis Davis Millet, American painter, sculptor and writer
- May 2 – Homer Davenport, American cartoonist
- May 20 – Louis Hasselriis, Danish sculptor known for public monuments
- June 25 – Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Dutch painter
- June 30 – John Ford Paterson, Scottish–Australian artist, president of the Victorian Artists Society
- July 16 – Thomas Fitzpatrick, Irish cartoonist
- August 20 – Walter Goodman, English painter, illustrator and author
- September 15 – John Leighton, English book illustrator
- October 11 – Nils Hansteen, Norwegian painter
- November 1 – John Emms, English painter
- November 22 – Otto Lessing, German historicist sculptor
- December 1 – John Moyr Smith, Scottish-born ceramic artist
- December 8 – Tony Robert-Fleury, French painter
- December 23 – Édouard Detaille, French painter
- date unknown
- * Henry Allan, Irish painter
- * Joan Brull, Catalan Symbolist painter
- * Tadeusz Żukotyński, Polish count, professor, and painter