March–November – City Sculpture Project in England.
May 21 – In St. Peter's Basilica (Vatican City), Laszlo Toth attacks Michelangelo's Pietà statue with a geologist's hammer, shouting that he is Jesus Christ.
June 8 – KUNSTEN Museum of Modern Art Aalborg, Denmark, designed by Alvar and Elissa Aalto and Jean-Jacques Baruël, is completed.
September 15 – Release in France of Luis Buñuel's surrealist film The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie.
September 16 – Opening of A.I.R. Gallery at 97 Wooster Street, SoHo, New York, the first artist-run, not-for-profit gallery for women artists in the United States.
September – Release in the United Kingdom of Ken Russell's biographical film about Gaudier-Brzeska, Savage Messiah.
October 4 – Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, designed by Louis Kahn, is opened.
date unknown
BBC Television broadcasts Ways of Seeing, a four-part series by John Berger on art.
Costantino Nivola becomes the first non-American member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Friedensreich Hundertwasser publishes his architectural manifesto, Your window right – your tree duty.
Portmeirion Pottery brings out its best-selling "Botanic Garden" design.
Oliver Millar becomes the first full-time Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures in the United Kingdom, succeeding Anthony Blunt.
Archibald Prize: Clifton Pugh – The Hon E G Whitlam
Francis Bacon – Triptych–August 1972
Bronisław Chromy – Wawel Dragon (statue, Kraków)
Marcelle Ferron – Untitled stained glass panel at Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Helen Frankenthaler – Coral Wedge
Barbara Hepworth – Minoan Head and Assembly of Sea Forms
David Hockney – Portrait of an Artist (Pool with two figures)
Elek Imredy – Girl in a Wetsuit (bronze, Vancouver, British Columbia)
Joan Jonas – Vertical Roll
Alexander Liberman – Contact II (sculpture, Portland, Oregon)
Paul McCarthy – Black and White Tapes
Clifton Pugh – Death of a Wombat
John Raimondi – David
Liberty Bell (Portland, Oregon)
January 29 – Brian Wood, American author and illustrator.
April 29 – Roman Dirge, American comic book artist and magician.
Duncan Campbell, Irish-born video artist.
Jules de Balincourt, French painter.
Gilles Tréhin, French artist and author.
Hema Upadhyay, née Hirani, Indian installation artist and photographer (d. 2015).
January 19 – Suzanne Malherbe, French illustrator and designer (b. 1892).
February 19 – Tedd Pierce, American animated cartoon writer, animator and artist (b. 1906).
March 13 – Tony Ray-Jones, English photographer (b. 1941).
March 23 – Cristóbal Balenciaga, Spanish fashion designer (b. 1895).
March 27
M. C. Escher, Dutch graphic artist (b. 1898).
Ricco Wassmer, Swiss painter (b. 1915).
April 26 - Fernando Amorsolo, Filipino painter (b. 1892)
July 31 – Dod Procter, English painter (b. 1890)
October 23 – Clarice Cliff, English ceramic artist (b. 1899)
October 31 – Beta Vukanović, Serbian painter (b. 1872).
December 23 – Norman Clyde, American mountaineer, nature photographer and naturalist (b. 1885).
December 24 – Gisela Richter, English archaeologist and art historian (b. 1882).
December 29 – Joseph Cornell, American artist and sculptor (b. 1903).
Gerard Curtis Delano, American painter (b. 1890).
Ilija Bašičević, Serbian painter (b. 1895)
1972 in art Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA
