1946 in art

Events

 * The Vienna School of Fantastic Realism is founded by Ernst Fuchs, Rudolf Hausner, and others.
 * The Borough Group of artists is founded in London by Cliff Holden.
 * Jean Dubuffet exhibits the series of works with paint mixed with sand and gravel, Hautes Pâtes, at the Galérie René Drouin.
 * Sidney Nolan begins his first series of paintings of Ned Kelly.
 * David Olère begins to produce artworks based on his experiences as Jewish Sonderkommando inmate 106144 of Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II.

Awards

 * Archibald Prize: William Dargie – L C Robson, MC, MA

Works

 * Harold Abbott – Triptych of Suffering
 * George Ault – Bright Light at Russell's Corners
 * Francis Bacon
 * Painting (1946)
 * Study for Man with Microphones (later abandoned and slashed by the artist)
 * Charles Comfort – Dieppe Raid
 * Salvador Dalí – The Temptation of St. Anthony

Exhibitions
Contemporary British Art – Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, and the City Art Museum, St Louis.

Births
January 18 – Kirk Varnedoe, American art historian, writer and curator (d. 2003) January 26 – Timothy Clifford, English art historian and curator February 2 – David Gopito, Zimbabwean sculptor April 11 – Chris Burden, American performance and installation artist and sculptor (d. 2015) June 29 – Egon von Fürstenberg, Swiss fashion designer (d. 2004) July 6 – Jamie Wyeth, American realist painter July 25 – Nicole Farhi, French sculptor and fashion designer September 27 – T. C. Cannon, Native American painter (d. 1978) November 4 – Robert Mapplethorpe, American photographer (d. 1989). November 5 – Herman Brood, Dutch musician, painter and media personality (d. 2001) November 20 – Alice Aycock, American sculptor and installation artist December 2 – Gianni Versace, Italian fashion designer (k. 1997) December 8 – Jacques Bourboulon, French nude and fashion photographer December 12 – Don Gummer, American sculptor December 25 – Christopher Frayling, English cultural historian Full date unknown – Betty Beaumont, Canadian American site-specific artist, all media

Deaths
February 17 Dorothy Gibson, American artist's model and silent film actress (b. 1889) Sir George Pirie, Scottish painter (b. 1863) July 11 – Paul Nash, English painter (b. 1889) July 13 – Alfred Stieglitz, American photographer (b. 1864) July 17 – Florence Fuller, Australian painter (b. 1867) October 28 – Manuel Ortiz de Zárate, Chilean painter (b. 1887) October 30 – Charles Despiau, French sculptor (b. 1874) November 23 – Arthur Dove, American abstract painter (b. 1880) November 24 – László Moholy-Nagy, Hungarian painter and photographer (b. 1895) December 28 – Elie Nadelman, Polish-born American sculptor (b. 1882) Full date unknown – Arnold Friedman, American Modernist painter (b. 1874)