The decade of the 1180s in art involved some significant events.

• 1185: The Comnenian Age of Byzantine art comes to an end when the Komnenian dynasty lose power

• 1183: Unkei transcribes two copies of the Lotus Sutra (calligraphy)
• 1189: Kōkei sculpts Four Heavenly Kings in Kōfuku-ji

• 1180: Giunta Pisano – Italian painter (died 1258)

• 1189: Lin Tinggui – Chinese painter of the Southern Song dynasty (born 1127)
• 1182: Zhao Boju – Chinese landscape and flower painter of the Southern Song dynasty (died 1120)