July 22 – The Lady of Baza Iberian sculpture (4th century BCE) is discovered.
October 24 – English painter Francis Bacon's lover, George Dyer, commits suicide two days before the opening of the artist's retrospective at Paris's Grand Palais; Bacon will paint The Black Triptychs in his memory.
Construction of the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris begins.
New Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes, opens.
Archibald Prize: Clifton Pugh – Sir John McEwen
Hans Haacke – Real Time Social System
David Hockney – Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy
Helen Journeay – Dawn (sculpture, Houston, Texas)
Nabil Kanso – Place des Martyres (paintings) (1971 through 1974)
Fritz Koenig – Great Spherical Caryatid ("The Sphere", for World Trade Center, New York City)
John Raimondi – Cage
Kaapa Tjampitjinpa – Gulgardi
Francisco Zúñiga – Mother and Daughter Seated (bronze, San Diego)
August 22 until September 29 - The "De Luxe Show" curated by Peter Bradley at the De Luxe movie theater in Houston, Texas sponsored by the Menil Foundation.
May 9 – Nicolas Ghesquière, French fashion designer
June 1 – Miguel Calderón, Mexican visual artist and performer
September 2 – Arnold Arre, Filipino comic book writer and artist
September 7 – Sirpa Masalin, Finnish sculptor
September 13 – Stella McCartney, English fashion designer
October 1 – Stéphane Breitwieser, French art thief
October 3 – Oliver Briceño, Venezuelan oboist
October 4 – Jeremy Blake, American digital artist and painter (died 2007)
October 27 – Jade Arcade, American composer, musician and comic book artist
date unknown
Ahmed Al Safi, Iraqi sculptor
Amanda Coogan, Irish performance artist
Bernhard Gál, Austrian composer and artist
January 10 – Coco Chanel, French fashion designer (born 1883)
January 11 – I. Rice Pereira, American painter, (born 1902)
February 7 – Emy Roeder, German sculptor (born 1890)
April 3 – Jacques Ochs, French artist, Olympic fencing gold medallist (born 1883)
April 11 – Marcel Gromaire, French painter (born 1892)
May 31 – Norman Wilkinson, English marine artist (born 1878)
June 14 – Gerald Dillon, Irish painter (born 1916)
July 7 – Ub Iwerks, American animator, cartoonist and special effects technician (born 1901)
July 12 – Kiyoshi Yamashita, Japanese outsider artist (born 1922)
August 27 – Margaret Bourke-White, American photographer and photojournalist (born 1904)
November 9 – Ceri Richards, Welsh painter (born 1903)
December 6 – Jan Altink, Dutch painter (born 1885)
1971 in art Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA
