Tadeusz Kantor (6 April 1915 – 8 December 1990) was a Polish

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

, assemblage and Happenings artist, set designer and

theatre director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

. Kantor is renowned for his revolutionary theatrical performances in Poland and abroad. Laureate of Witkacy Prize – Critics' Circle Award (1989).

Life and career

Kantor was born to Marian Kantor-Mirski and Helena Berger. His family were staunch Catholics. His mother was related to composer and conductor

Krzysztof Penderecki Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best known works include ''Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', '' Polish Requiem'', ' ...

, through her German father. Born in

Wielopole Skrzyńskie Wielopole Skrzyńskie is a village (town in 1348 - 1933) in Ropczyce-Sędziszów County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Wielopole Skrzyńskie. It lies in h ...

Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...

(then in Austria-Hungary, now in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

), Kantor graduated from the

Cracow Academy The Jagiellonian University ( Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university ...

in 1939. During the Nazi occupation of Poland, he founded the Independent Theatre, and served as a professor at the

Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków The Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków ( pl, Akademia Sztuk Pięknych im. Jana Matejki w Krakowie, usually abbreviated to ''ASP''), is a public institution of higher education located in the centre of Kraków, Poland. It is the oldest Pol ...

as well as a director of experimental theatre in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula, Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland un ...

from 1942 to 1944. After the war, he became known for his

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretica ...

work in stage design including designs for '' Saint Joan'' (1956) and ''

Measure for Measure ''Measure for Measure'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604 and first performed in 1604, according to available records. It was published in the '' First Folio'' of 1623. The play's plot features its ...

'' (1956). Specific examples of such changes to standard theatre were stages that extended out into the audience, and the use of

mannequins A mannequin (also called a dummy, lay figure, or dress form) is a doll, often articulated, used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, window dressers and others, especially to display or fit clothing and show off different fabrics and textiles. P ...

as real-life actors. In 1955, with a group of visual artists disenchanted with the growing institutionalization of avant-garde, he formed a new theatre ensemble called

Cricot 2 Cricot 2 was a Polish experimental theatre company based in Kraków. It was founded in 1955 by the renowned theatre director, professional painter and assemblage artist, avantgarde set designer and art theorist Tadeusz Kantor, with artwork in the ...

. In the 1960s, Cricot 2 gave performances in many theatres in Poland and abroad, gaining recognition for their stage ''happenings''. His interest was mainly with the absurdists and Polish writer and playwright

Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (; 24 February 188518 September 1939), commonly known as Witkacy, was a Polish writer, painter, philosopher, theorist, playwright, novelist, and photographer active before World War I and during the interwar period. ...

(also known as "Witkacy"). Stage productions of Witkacy's plays ''The Cuttlefish'' (1956) and ''The Water Hen'' (1969) were regarded as his best achievements during this time. A 1972 performance of ''The Water Hen'' was described as "the least-publicised, most talked-about event at the

Edinburgh festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh F ...

''Dead Class'' (1975) was the most famous of his theatre pieces of the 1970s. A TV-Movie of the production was made in 1977, directed by

Andrzej Wajda Andrzej Witold Wajda (; 6 March 1926 – 9 October 2016) was a Polish film and theatre director. Recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Honorary Golden Bear Awards, he was a prominent member of the ...

. In that play, Kantor himself played the role of a teacher who presided over a class of apparently dead characters who are confronted by mannequins representing the characters' younger selves. He had begun experimenting with the juxtaposition of mannequins and live actors in the 1950s. His later works of the 1980s were very personal reflections. As in ''Dead Class'', he would sometimes represent himself on stage. In the 1990s, his works became well known in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

due to presentations at

Ellen Stewart Ellen Stewart (November 7, 1919 – January 13, 2011) was an American theatre director and producer and the founder of La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. During the 1950s she worked as a fashion designer for Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goo ...

La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club (La MaMa E.T.C.) is an Off-Off-Broadway theatre founded in 1961 by Ellen Stewart, African-American theatre director, producer, and fashion designer. Located in Manhattan's East Village, the theatre began in the ...

. Throughout his life, Kantor had an interesting and unique relationship with

Jewish culture Jewish culture is the culture of the Jewish people, from its formation in ancient times until the current age. Judaism itself is not a faith-based religion, but an orthoprax and ethnoreligion, pertaining to deed, practice, and identity. Jewis ...

; despite being a nominal

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Kantor incorporated many elements of what was known as " Jewish theatre" into his works. Kantor died in Kraków. The new Center for the Documentation of the Art of Tadeusz Kantor, was opened in Krakow in 2014.

Major manifestos and writing

*''The Autonomous Theatre'' (1963) *''Theatre Happening: The Theatre of Events'' (1967) *''The Informel Theatre'' (1961) *''The Zero Theatre'' (1963) *''The Theatre of Death'' (1975)

Productions with Cricot 2

*''The Cuttlefish'' (1956) *''The Country House'' (1961) *''The Madman and the Nun'' (1963) *''The Water Hen'' (1965) *''Dainty Shapes and Hairy Apes, or the Green Pill'' (1972) *''The Dead Class'' (1975) *''Wielopole, Wielopole'' (1981) *''Let the Artists Die'' (1985) *''Macchina dell'amore e della morte'' (1987) *''I Shall Never Return'' (1989) *''Today is my Birthday'' (1990)

References

External links

Tadeusz Kantor
at culture.pl
Cricoteka
The Centre For the Documentation of the Art of Tadeusz Kantor
Tadeusz Kantor Foundation

Kantor's gallery at malarze.com

The Water Hen: Kantor, Demarco and the Edinburgh Festival at Culture.pl

Images from “THE WATER HEN”
at The Royal Scottish Academy of Art & Architecture * images of Edinburgh performances by Tadeusz Kantor

Details of show being performed in Edinburgh 2007 based on Kantor
Cricot 2's website

Art Signature Dictionary, genuine signature by the artist Tadeusz Kantor
Here are several dated examples of Tadeusz Kantor signature.
TADEUSZ KANTOR YEAR 2015
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kantor, Tadeusz 1915 births 1990 deaths People from Ropczyce-Sędziszów County 20th-century Polish painters 20th-century Polish male artists Polish theatre directors Modernist theatre Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Burials at Rakowicki Cemetery Theatre practitioners Assemblage artists Polish contemporary artists Polish male painters

Life and career

Major manifestos and writing

Productions with Cricot 2

See also

References

Further reading

External links