1985 in art

Events

Charles Saatchi's collection opens to the public, arousing interest in Neo-expressionism.
Germano Celant publishes Arte Povekira: Storie e protagonisti.
Art gallerist Andrew Crispo and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum are involved in a dispute over Constantin Brâncuși's 1912 sculpture "The Muse" which ends in the museum paying $2 million US for the artwork, at the time believed to be the most ever paid for a 20th century sculpture.^[1]
October 17 – A fire at the Huntington Library (California) destroys Joshua Reynolds's 1777 portrait of Mrs. Edwin Lascelles.

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Works

8 January – Grace Morley, American-born curator (b. 1900)^[3]
18 January – Anwar Shemza, Pakistan-born British artist and writer (b. 1928)
7 March – Jessie Oonark, Canadian Inuk artist (b. 1906)
28 March – Marc Chagall, Russian-Belarusian-French painter (b. 1887).
21 April – Rudi Gernreich, Austrian American fashion designer (b. 1922).
11 May – Chester Gould, American cartoonist (b. 1900).
12 May – Jean Dubuffet, French painter and sculptor (b. 1901).
22 May – Wolfgang Reitherman, German-American animator (b. 1909).
26 July – Grace Albee, American printmaker (b. 1890).
21 August – David Olère, Polish-born Jewish French painter (b. 1902).
8 September – Ana Mendieta, Cuban American performance artist, sculptor, painter and video artist
28 September – André Kertész, Hungarian-born photographer (b. 1894).
17 November – Richard Amsel, American illustrator and graphic designer (b. 1947).
8 December – Paul Kelpe, German-born American painter (b. 1902).
Ovartaci, Danish outsider artist (b. 1894)
Antonio Rodríguez Luna, Spanish painter (b. 1910).

Events